


About Time

by jess (jess_m)



Series: The Daughter of Time [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Awesome Clara Oswin Oswald, Awesome Rose Tyler, Awesome Sarah Jane Smith, BAMF Amy Pond (Doctor Who), BAMF Clara Oswin Oswald, BAMF Rose Tyler, BAMF Yasmin Khan, Bisexual Clara Oswin Oswald, Bisexual Rose Tyler, Eleventh Doctor Era, F/F, F/M, Hurt Jack Harkness, Jack Harkness Flirts, Lesbian Yasmin Khan, Major Original Character(s), Minor Amy Pond/Rory Williams, Minor Original Character(s), Multi, Ninth Doctor Era, Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Pete's World (Doctor Who), Protective Jack Harkness, Soft Thirteenth Doctor, Temporary Character Death - Jack Harkness, Tenth Doctor Era, Thirteenth Doctor Era, Time Agent Jack Harkness, Time Travel, Twelfth Doctor Era, Vortex Manipulator, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2020-06-25 12:26:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 112,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19745749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jess_m/pseuds/jess
Summary: One day Zoe Wilson decides to place a strange vortex manipulator left on her doorstep onto her wrist, from that moment onward her life is ripped from her as she is tangled through the life of a mysterious figure called the Doctor after the Doctor survives the Time War.With her life scattered throughout time and her constant meetings with people who seem to know her far better than she knows them, she's left to wonder if she'll ever find out if she will ever be allowed to sit still and find some normalcy in the mayhem her life so quickly slipped into.





	1. A New Life

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, obviously I don't own Doctor Who or else I wouldn't be on this site. 
> 
> Any changes in canon are done purely for the sake of this story and the plot I really want to write. Don't come at me with pitchforks.
> 
> The trips with Thirteen are going to be a bit more limited seeing as at the time I'm releasing this fic, there's only one season and one New Year's special with her (I don't include the regeneration Christmas special seeing as she was there for about five seconds).

It began with a thunderous pounding at her door. At first, Zoe Wilson had planned on ignoring it. She combed her fingers through her shoulder-length, brown- almost black hair, as she flipped to the next page in the physics textbook her father had spent an hour straight yelling at her to study when he discovered her barely passing grades and minimal efforts within the class. Her brown eyes flicked across the page absentmindedly, picking up enough words to vomit them back to her father when he asked.

Whoever was on the other side of the door began kicking and pounding on it with both fists but rather than respond, she simply huffed and stretched to grab her headphones off her desk.

There was no way this person was looking for and if her father had been expecting company he should have considered that before swanning off with his girlfriend for the fifth time that week.

However, before she could even plug her headphones into her phone the pounding stop and an odd sound hit the door like a box being dropped off by an irate delivery man.

She considered ignoring it and leaving the damaged package for her father to find when he returned at three in the morning then yelled at her for staying awake studying at the same time. Unfortunately, her curiosity was too much to bear and with a soft groan, she pushed herself out of her chair and marched to the door. Crossing her fingers, she prayed the delivery man still wasn’t there and ready to spit in her face the moment she swung open the door. 

Zoe grit her teeth and unlocked the door. It moaned as it opened like something out of a horror film and she cursed as she found the package slightly burned on the wrapping with countless tears appearing as though it had walked through the depths of hell itself.

She was going to be blamed for this. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind.

Zoe plucked the package up off the ground and carried it to the kitchen so she could tear off all the wrapping and leave it open for her father. She spun the page and frowned when she didn’t find an address anywhere on it. 

Instead, there was a small note scrawled quickly.

_ The Lady Wilson _

Zoe dropped the package on the counter and clutched her throat as though it had reached up and tried to cut her.

How in hell had she gotten a random package in the middle of the night when she couldn’t order anything herself in the first place? Her father certainly wouldn’t use his money to buy anything and she barely knew his girlfriend so that was out of the question.

Maybe, her mother had some crazy rich uncle nobody knew of that sent her this package with a check for a million pounds. 

She scoffed and rolled her eyes at the very idea. As if she could ever be that lucky.

Zoe tiptoed towards the package once again like it was a bomb that might go off purely by her proximity. 

Gradually, she peeled the wrapping off and found a pristine box, somehow unperturbed by its horrible wrapping. It was a soft white and seemed to be radiating something that Zoe wasn’t sure she wanted to be anywhere near. 

However, no matter her qualms the little devil on her shoulder kept egging her on begging her to find out more. To get to the bottom of this new Tuesday night mystery.

She groaned and cursed her lack of self-control as she plucked the lid off the box and found… a wristwatch? No, not a wristwatch. Some sort of large brown band with a small screen, metallic buttons, and a flashing blue light. 

She slowly picked up the band, holding it so she was completely ready to toss it to the side if it started spraying some toxic gas in her face. She narrowed her eyes at the screen and found what looked like a digitized image of DNA, only this DNA looked different than ordinary DNA. Beneath the image, there was a small description:  _ Time Lord Number… _ She couldn’t make out any of the numbers, but what stood out was the title ‘Time Lord’.

“What the hell is a Time Lord?” She murmured.

Rolling her eyes, Zoe decided the band wasn’t going to murder her so she slid it on. However, right as the band found its home on her left wrist, the skin under the band began to burn. 

Zoe screamed as she felt like her skin was on fire and frantically tried to shove the band off her body to no avail. It only burned worse until her skin wrapped around the edges of the band and she felt her stomach turn over at the sight of the band seared onto her wrist. She fought hard to try and yank it off but it didn’t work. Instead, the band began strangely beeping and the blue light on it started flickering.

“Great, I go through all the trouble of being careful to get my arm blown off by a bloody tacky leather band,” Zoe groaned. She resorted to slapping the band as though that would have gotten it off even if it wasn’t seared into her skin.

The beeping only grew more rapid and Zoe took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut expecting an explosion of pain. However, the band made her disappear on that very spot and pulled her across time and space into a blue box that was bigger on the inside than on the out. 

Zoe opened a single eye and nearly collapsed from heart failure when she found herself standing in her grey jumper and black trousers in some sort of alien command center with; round things on the walls, black wires connected to things she couldn’t spot hanging from the ceiling, a yellowish grunge atmosphere, and two people staring at her like she had morphed into a green alien with tentacles.

One was a woman with messy blonde hair, pale skin like Zoe, and brown eyes just like Zoe. She donned a Union Jack and black trousers and she looked at Zoe with what seemed to be fear, confusion, and concern wearing down her eyes as she glanced between the man and Zoe. 

The man had a shaved head, fair skin, blue eyes that seemed to be far more tired and aged than his face and apparent age should allow. He donned a leather jacket and had ears that made Zoe want to snort if she couldn’t hear her own heartbeat screaming in her head. The way he looked at Zoe made the girl want to scream and itch out her own skin. 

Instead, he just clenched her jaw and shook his head, marching over to her and guiding her over to a tacky yellow jumpseat she hadn’t noticed.

The man knelt down before her and placed a gentle hand against her cheek. One she flinched away from. He seemed to understand her wariness and held up his hands in surrender, keeping them by his sides instead.

“So,” the man sighed, a heavy Northern accent peaking through even with the one word. “How long has it been for you?”

Zoe narrowed her eyes at him. How long has it been? What was that supposed to mean?

“Erm, I’m nineteen?” Zoe guessed.

She heard the blonde woman snort and turned to see her turning away so Zoe was incapable of figuring out what was so funny.

The man smiled patiently and shook his head. “No, how long has it been since this face?” He asked, pointing to his face.

Zoe could feel her mind running circles and with its speed, she worried she may start spinning in circles herself trying to understand what this man was saying to her. Eventually, she just decided to fess up and be straightforward. A stranger wasn’t going to be as put out as her father for her being unable to read his mind, right?

“I don’t know you,” Zoe confessed.

The man’s face fell and Zoe heard what she presumed to be the blonde dropping something heavy.

He furrowed his brows. “Er, do you mind if I get a look at that band on your wrist?” He implored, gesturing to the band she had rolled up her sleeve to put on.

Zoe shrugged. There was no harm in looking.

The man peered at the band and tapped a few buttons. The band showed the date she had come from and she heard him mutter a curse.

“What’s wrong?” 

The man sighed and ran his hand over his short brown hair as he dropped her arm. “I had worried it was going to me. I assumed I might get lucky but that’s never the case,” he murmured, clenching his jaw.

“What? What are you talking about?” Zoe frowned.

The man took a deep breath and met her brown eyes. “Zoe, my name is the Doctor. This item on your wrist is called a vortex manipulator. I don’t know who sent it to you but it’s seared into your skin with no way off. Do you remember the DNA image it showed when you put it on?” He asked. He fished a small metallic tube out of his leather jacket and used it on the band. While the tube was in use it made a strange whirring sound and a blue light flashed on the end. Once he was done, he lifted up her wrist and showed her the digitilized DNA she had seen with the ‘Time Lord’ description.

“Of course I remember,” Zoe huffed, tugging her arm out of his grip. “It was two seconds ago.”

“Right,” the Doctor smirked, putting the tube into his jacket. “Forgot how cheeky you were early on.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” Zoe snapped. “And will someone just tell me where I am?!”

“Calm down,” the Doctor sighed, standing up and waving her downwards with his hands. “First, introductions. Rose,” he called to the blonde. 

She peered out from behind the column in the middle of the console and gave a shy wave and smile. 

“You were wondering when you two met,” the Doctor said. “Well, here she is.”

Rose tiptoed over and kindly held out her hand. “Hi,” she sighed. Zoe smirked. London Cockney. Just like her own Mum. “I’m Rose Tyler, and I know you’re probably freaking out right now but it’s going to be alright,” she assured her.

“Zoe Wilson,” Zoe nodded, shaking the girl’s hand. “And how exactly is it going to be okay when I still have no clue where I am?” She wondered.

“Right,” the Doctor nodded. “This is going to sound a bit mad so just bear with me. You’re in my ship in the middle of space. The ship is called the Tardis and as long as you promise not to get all weepy on me I can show you.”

Zoe’s eyes inflated and her heart pounded louder in her ears until the sound was deafening. She stared into blank space as her mind digested what the Doctor said.

“H-How?” She breathed.

“It’s this band,” the Doctor explained. He knelt down before her and placed a finger on the band. She winced in pain and he cursed. “You said the skin was sensitive for quite a bit after,” he mumbled. “Sorry about that. The point is, that DNA in there is mine taken right in the final days of the Time War. The vortex manipulator has been messed with so your life is now tangled into mine. I’ve scanned everything through the Tardis and my sonic but I can’t work out a way to get it off or stop you from popping across my timeline. My future selves are working on it as well. Unfortunately, until we come to a solution you’re stuck like this.”

“What does that mean?” Zoe frowned.

“He means that thing is going to take you through the Doctor’s timeline at random moments and right now there’s nothing we can do about it,” Rose explained bluntly.

Zoe furrowed her brows. “Hold on, so his means I have no choice when I come and go? I can never go back home and stay there? I can never stick to one point in time anymore I’m just being teleported everywhere for the sake of someone’s sick amusement?”

“We don’t know why this happened to you,” the Doctor sighed. “Admittedly, I’m a rubbish option for your first trip considering how little I know but I’m all you’ve got,” he shrugged.

“So, what? I’m stuck in this now?” Zoe huffed. “I put on a tacky leather band and now my life is forfeit?”

Rose watched her carefully, watching Zoe as if someone had just killed her dog. “I’m so sorry.”

Zoe leaned back and clenched her jaw. “I’m not giving up much back home but I still wish I had been given the choice rather than having some bloody band make it for me,” she muttered. “So, how do I know when this thing is taking me somewhere else?” She wondered.

“It usually burns the skin it sits on,” the Doctor explained. “It’s going to hurt like bloody hell for a while but eventually according to you, you’ve gotten used to it.”

“Oh, just another thing to look forward to, I guess,” Zoe hummed. She ran

through everything the Doctor had told her and frowned as she remembered a specific fact she never addressed. “Are we really in space?” She asked, glancing up at the pair and Rose snorted.

The Doctor just smiled. “See for yourself,” he said, nodding to the white doors to their left.

Zoe narrowed her eyes and glanced back at Rose. “He’s not trying to get me sucked into space, is he?”

The Doctor’s face fell and Rose barked out a laugh.

“No,” Rose chuckled. “I thought the same thing, but no.”

“Why does everybody think that?” the Doctor huffed, throwing his hands in the air. 

“You don’t exactly have a personality that screams trustworthy” Zoe shrugged. She pushed herself up off the jumpseat and Rose followed her as she shoved the door open and spotted the great wide expanse of space outside. “Wow,” she breathed. 

She could spot Jupiter in the distance and millions of stars along with meteors floating across the sky and as she crept along the edge of the entrance she felt a bliss wrap around her body that she hadn’t felt in years.

It was impossible and crazy and positively mad but she knew in her heart of hearts what they were saying was true. How else could she have disappeared from her kitchen and reappeared here? A part of her conceded that she very well could have been one of the many abducted by aliens- in a way she supposed she had, but the Doctor was the only one who made sense out of this insanity and she couldn’t dream of any other reason for all of this. It was only logical. Somehow she had gotten wrapped up in the timeline of an alien.

So much for a sane and simple life.

Zoe took a deep breath and spun around, allowing the door to close behind her. She narrowed her eyes at the Doctor. “Are you a Time Lord?” She asked.

The Doctor’s eyes flickered up and he solemnly nodded. “Is there a problem with that?”

“No, I was just wondering what that meant,” Zoe shrugged. She turned to Rose and raised a brow. “Are you an alien or a human like me?”

Rose smirked. “Human, but not exactly like you.”  
Zoe frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, I forgot to mention,” the Doctor winced. “The second that vortex manipulator seared into your skin your body clock stopped. You won’t age anymore.”

Zoe’s jaw dropped. “So, I’m immortal?” She gasped.

“Not exactly. You can’t die of natural causes but anything else can get you,” the Doctor explained.

“Oh, what use is that?” Zoe moaned.

Rose laughed. “Exactly what I said,” she remarked.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “I think whoever gave you that gave you-.”

He was cut off as the Tardis jolted and Rose and Zoe were thrown off their feet while the Doctor was knocked into the console.

“What the hell was that?!” Rose snapped.

“I don’t know, I-!” He was cut off by the Tardis rocking again.

“You mean this normally doesn’t happen?!” Zoe cried, clinging to the metal railing as the Tardis rocked wildly.

“Never!” Rose screamed. 

“Got it!” the Doctor hollered. “The Tardis locked onto an emergency signal automatically!”

“What’s the emergency?!” Rose exclaimed.

“It’s mauve.”

“Mauve?” Rose frowned, glancing back at Zoe as if she could offer an explanation.

“What the hell is mauve?” Zoe asked.

“The universally recognized color for danger,” the Doctor explained calmly as though they were supposed to know this.

“What happened to red?” Rose wondered.

“Red is easier to understand than mauve, isn’t it?” Zoe implored with a raised brow. “I mean, red: danger, alert, blood, bad things?”

“That’s just humans,” the Doctor shook his head. “By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing. It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the Tardis. Where it goes, we go.”

“And that’s safe, is it?” Zoe prompted, frowning at the Doctor.

The Doctor winced and after a beat of hesitation, shrugged nonchalantly. “Totally,” he mumbled.

“That means we’re in trouble,” Rose translated for Zoe.

As if to prove her point, the Doctor moved two feet and sparks shot out of the console with a sharp bang. The Doctor cowered away and Rose and Zoe shot annoyed looks at him. 

“Okay, reasonably!” the Doctor corrected himself. “Should have said reasonably there. No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us,” he moaned as the Tardis beeped to announce the capsule jumping away.

Zoe frowned and wondered aimlessly why they needed to be chasing this strange thing so frantically if they had no idea what it was or what was inside it.

“What exactly is this thing?” Rose asked.

“Just what I was thinking,” Zoe scoffed.

“No idea,” the Doctor admitted with a shrug.

“You don’t know what it is?” Zoe echoed with narrowed eyes and the Doctor nodded absentmindedly, too busy fiddling with the controls on the console.

“Then why are we chasing it?” Rose wondered.

“It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the center of London,” the Doctor announced.

Zoe and Rose shared a wide-eyed look and both immediately jumped up to stand on either side of him where he had his eyes fixed on a capsule whizzing through time and space.

If this thing was about to crash land in the middle of London it was a fairly good reason to track it down and desperately try to stop it no matter what it was or what was inside.

Zoe sucked in a sharp breath as she watched the capsule. This was the first of what she knew would be a lifetime of trips with the Doctor and she was being tossed headfirst into the water. She just hoped she didn’t drown before she was whisked away to her next time. 


	2. A Blast To The 40's

The Tardis landed and the three of them popped out, but Zoe’s eyes widened as she took in the exterior size of the Tardis for the first time. “Oh, cool!” Zoe exclaimed. “It’s like this fantasy film I once saw with a door in the middle of the woods that led to another dimension!”

The Doctor and Rose shared a wide-eyed look. “Usually I get an ‘it’s bigger on the inside’,” the Doctor remarked. 

Zoe snorted. “Do you want me to say it’s bigger on the inside?” She wondered, raising a brow at him.

“No,” the Doctor frowned. “It’s usually a good laugh though,” he muttered. “Never mind,” he shook his head. “Do the two of you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?” He implored.

Zoe glanced around at the alleyway they had landed in a small smile brushed against her lips. If she had any doubts this confirmed it. They had moved. They had really moved. What the Doctor was saying was true and while there were plenty of devastating things to deal with in that fact, but right now she chose to focus on the positives which were- she now had the chance to travel across all of space and time with an alien.

Most people barely had the chance to leave their country and she was able to go through anywhere in the universe. Yes, it was with plenty of downsides but she doubted she could muster up the time or energy at that moment to handle it and feel the range of emotions she would be dealing with.

Instead, she just stepped up to the Doctor and Rose as they were peering around the alley for any sign of the capsule they were chasing.

“Five days?” Rose guessed in response to the Doctor’s question. “Or is that just when we're out of milk?”

“Of all the species in all the Universe and it has to come out of a cow,” the Doctor mumbled.

“Well, not always,” Zoe sighed. “But it’s never the same as when it’s out of a cow,” she shrugged.

“Oh, you don’t know how true that is until you've had 2% goat’s milk,” Rose snorted.

“That’s a thing?!” Zoe exclaimed, turning to the blonde with wide eyes. 

Rose took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbled. “Let’s just say you never want to meet my Aunt Sharon for Christmas,” she said and Zoe chuckled.

“Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month,” the Doctor told them as he began to start heading down the alleyway.

“A month?” Rose frowned. She and Zoe hurried to follow him and rushed up to stand on either side of him, Zoe on his left and Rose on his right. “We were right behind it.”

“It was jumping time tracks all over the place,” the Doctor shrugged. “We're bound to be a little bit out. Do you want to drive?” He asked, his eyes flicking down to Zoe.

“Sure, I suppose,” Zoe mumbled. “How much is a bit though?” She wondered.

“Is that exactly a bit?” Rose asked, a small smirk playing at her lips.

“Ish,” the Doctor said. 

“How do we do this?” Zoe wondered. “What’s the plan? Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?” 

“Zoe, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang,” the Doctor huffed. “I'm going to ask.”

The Doctor fished inside his leather jacket and pulled out some identification. He flashed it to her with a small smirk. 

“It’s just a bunch of wavy lines,” Zoe shrugged.

The Doctor winced. “Right. Forgot this was your first time with it.” He turned and flashed it to Rose. 

“Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids,” Rose read.

“How come I didn’t see that?” Zoe frowned.

“It’s psychic paper,” the Doctor explained. “It shows you what I want you to see. With some people, it shorts out. It can show nothing or have too many things to show and thus make the wavy lines you saw. From now on it should work with you.”

“Alright,” Zoe mumbled, furrowing her brows. “So, that’s how you just do things then? Waltz in, flash the psychic paper, and get people to do whatever you need?”

“Whenever it’s necessary,” the Doctor shrugged. “Might need a bit of jiggery-pokery round here though,” he said just as they reached a locked door labeled ‘Deliveries Only’. He pulled out the mental tube he had used on the vortex manipulator and knelt before the lock of the door.

“You never said what that was, by the way,” Zoe realized, pointing towards the tube.

“It’s his sonic screwdriver,” Rose answered. “He uses it to lock and unlock things for the most part but sometimes it’s poking about and messing with some sciencey stuff I don’t even pretend to understand.”

“Hold on, a sonic screwdriver?” Zoe frowned. “In films and Star Trek they always have sonic weapons or teleports or whatever, but why would you make a screwdriver sonic?”

Rose snorted. “I never thought of it that way I suppose.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “I got bored one night and this is handy and easy to carry about, now can I have a bit of hush?” He implored, raising a brow at the women.

“Okay,” Zoe smirked. “I suppose I should be grateful you didn’t try to whip out a sonic clock or something,” she shrugged.

“I’m not entirely convinced he doesn’t have that tucked away somewhere,” Rose chortled.

Zoe chuckled and shook her head. Maybe, she could fit in with the pair of them. It hurt to think she was leaving the familiarity of the life she once had behind while being forced to immediately adjust to this new world but if this was the way things were going to be all the time she figured it might be easier than hopping around with some rude people she loathed. 

“Y’know, this isn’t very Spock,” Rose remarked. 

“Door, music, people. What do you think?” the Doctor implored, raising a brow as he waved to the door. 

“I think you should do a scan for alien tech,” Rose huffed, crossing her arms and glaring at the Doctor. “What sort of image is this for Zoe’s first trip? Sort of boring don’t you think?”

“I think it seems pretty simple,” Zoe shrugged. “I’d rather quick and easy for the first trip than every extreme in the book.”

The Doctor gestured to her and shot a glare at Rose as if to say: _see? She agrees with me._

“Oh, give me some Spock, for once. Would it kill you?” Rose moaned.

“He doesn’t exactly look Spock,” Zoe muttered, narrowing her eyes at the Doctor. “I mean if he had pointy ears or something that looked decidedly alien I’d be all for it but he even wears ordinary human clothes-.”

“Speaking of which, are you sure about that shirt?” the Doctor frowned, his eyes flicking back to Rose.

Rose winced as she pulled her coat away a bit to get a better look at the shirt. “Too early to say,” she shrugged. “I’m taking it out for a spin.”

“If anybody’s gonna draw attention around here it’s you with that shirt,” Zoe told her. “Isn’t there some sort of rule about dressing inconspicuous or whatever?”

“Never had to make one if I’m being honest,” the Doctor mumbled.

Rose opened her mouth to try and defend the shirt, but before she could the lock clicked and the door swung open. 

“Come on if you're coming,” the Doctor said. “It won't take a minute.”

Zoe shrugged and headed inside after the Doctor while Rose wanded off down the alleyway back towards the Tardis.

“What do you think is inside the capsule?” Zoe wondered. “I mean if it was mauve it’s got to be something bad.”

“That’s not always the case,” the Doctor shook his head. “It could just be that it was lost, unstable. Hence why it landed here. Someone lost control of it and sent it out as mauve as a warning, likely hoping somebody else could capture it and stop it.”

“So, is this what you lot do?” Zoe wondered. “Track down emergency signals and help where you can?”

“Sort of,” the Doctor sighed. “Sometimes it can be popping in the right place at the wrong time, sometimes it really is just traveling about seeing sights without a destination in mind,” he explained.

Zoe nodded. “Makes sense. But just so I’m clear, this vortex manipulator could rip me away at any time with my only warning being it burning my skin?”

The Doctor glanced down at her with something weighing down in his blue eyes. Sympathy? Concern? She couldn’t name it but she could see that whatever he was watching her with, it was far from pure joy. Instead, he took a deep breath and looked up to the path they were taking through the corridor as he nodded.

“Yeah, but there’s something else you need to know. Something Rose doesn’t even know. I’m a Time Lord and our people, we have this sort of ability to change rather than die. If I get seriously injured I can change absolutely everything. You lot will still look similar to me but when you disappear it’s not always going to be this face,” he explained.

Zoe rolled her eyes. “Great so I don’t even have a bit of a guide as to who to look out for when I’m gone,” she mumbled.

“Sorry, but based on what you’ve told me you don’t exactly have a hard time picking out who I am when you travel.”

“How is that possible?” Zoe frowned. “You could be anybody.”

“You’d have to ask yourself that question,” the Doctor shrugged. “Sorry, I can’t be much more help. I know from what you’ve told me this is no fun and that’s why I was sort of hoping I wouldn’t be your first trip.”

“Oh, don’t kick yourself for it,” Zoe sighed. “It’s not like any of us had any choice in this.”

“Well, there was always the option of you not putting on the vortex manipulator,” the Doctor proposed.

Zoe looked up to glare at him and he snorted. 

“Or not,” the Doctor shrugged.

With that, they rounded the corner and spotted a waiter carrying a tray and heading through a beaded curtain. Zoe frowned as she heard the soft jazz playing through the club. She’d never seen a jazz nightclub in London like this, but then again she didn’t exactly make a habit of venturing out to jazz clubs in the dead of night so maybe it passed her by.

They headed through the beaded curtain and up on the stage a redhead sang alongside the jazz. Amidst the crowd, people were wearing strange attire for the middle of London and she swore she saw someone in an old fashioned Army uniform.

“Doctor,” Zoe muttered. “There’s something-.”

“Hold on,” the Doctor said, holding up a hand to stop her. “She just stopped singing.” He clapped and headed up to the stage while Zoe winced.

Something was wrong. She had a sneaking feeling they weren’t in the center of twenty-first century London. Though she couldn’t work out where they were right away she had a feeling the Doctor risked making a fool out of himself if he said the wrong thing thinking they were in twenty-first century London.

Nevertheless, he hopped onto the stage.

“Excuse me. Excuse me. Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick. Hello!” He called out to the crowd.

Zoe’s eyes widened and she winced as she spotted the enlistment poster confirming her suspicions. _Hitler will send no warning!_

The Doctor was about to ask about an item falling from the sky in the middle of World War Two.

“Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?” the Doctor asked and Zoe cringed.

It was too late for her to stop him from embarrassing himself now.

There was silence as the crowd surely waited to figure out whether or not the Doctor was being serious before they all began laughing at him. The Doctor’s face fell and his eyes wandered around the room to try and grasp some understanding of why they were laughing at him. 

“Sorry, have I said something funny? It's just, there's this thing that I need to find. Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago,” the Doctor informed them.

Before Zoe could try to divert his attention to the poster she saw, an air raid siren started and everyone in the crowd began getting up to head down to the shelter.

“Would've landed quite near here. With a very loud-.”

“Quickly as you can, down to the shelter,” one of the employees instructed the crowd.

“Doctor!” Zoe called as the man frowned at the group.

His eyes darted over to her and she pointed to the poster she had spotted. His face fell and with wide eyes, his body visibly deflated. 

“Bang,” he murmured, finishing his thought despite there being no more reason for it.

The Doctor sighed and ran his hand over his short hair before jumping off the stage and heading over to Zoe’s side.

“Sir! Miss!” One of the employees called. “You really ought to get down to the shelter!”

“We’ll be alright,” the Doctor assured him as he placed his hand on Zoe’s back to guide her out of the club. “No worries, you just get down there yourself before anything happens.”

The man winced at the very idea and nodded before he headed down to the shelter.

Zoe rushed so she could continue walking by the Doctor’s side despite the way he hurried out of the club and the fact that he was nearly a foot taller than her.

“World War 2,” the Doctor huffed. “It had to be World War 2.”

“Will we be alright though?” Zoe frowned. “Because there is very much still the threat of being blown up around these parts.”

“Just don’t wander off or put yourself into any stupid positions and you’ll be just fine,” the Doctor assured her.

“What if I have no choice but to put myself in a stupid position?” Zoe retorted.

The Doctor froze and glanced down at her with a smirk. “You’re good,” he remarked. “If you have no choice then you better sit back and hope nothing bad happens to you because of it.”

Zoe shrugged. “Fair enough.”

The Doctor took off walking again and she scurried up to his side like a scared little mouse desperate to stay beneath his protection. He shoved the door they had entered through open and looked around the alley with a small frown.

“Rose?” He called.

Zoe furrowed her brows and glanced through cracked doorways. “Rose!” She cried. “Where’d you run off to?” She hummed.

Zoe followed the Doctor until they were just a few feet from the Tardis. The Doctor narrowed his eyes to see if maybe Rose was somewhere in the darkness behind the Tardis while Zoe looked behind her.

They both jumped when a small cat on a pile of boxes meowed.

Zoe smiled as the Doctor gathered the cat into his arms and began petting it. “You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing. Nine hundred years of phone box travel, it's the only thing left to surprise me.”

“Oi!” Zoe snapped. “I haven’t run off yet.”

The Doctor fixed her with a look that said he knew far more than she did. “Yet,” he repeated and she winced.

Okay, maybe it’s not the best idea to challenge the knowledge of someone who knows your future far better than you do.

All of a sudden, a phone began ringing. The Doctor frowned and placed the cat back on the pile of boxes before heading to the Tardis. Meanwhile, Zoe picked up the cat with a small smile and began petting her. She followed the Doctor and he stared at his Tardis as if it had just morphed into a talking elephant.

He opened the small door with all the police box instructions on the outside before continuing to frown at the phone some more. “How can you be ringing? What's that about, ringing? What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?”

“Well, most people go with answering it,” Zoe suggested. The Doctor shot a glare at her and she giggled. 

The Doctor pulled out his sonic, but before he could use it on the phone a voice from behind them called out and made Zoe nearly jump out of her skin.

“Don’t answer it!” the girl called. “It’s not for you.”

Zoe turned around just as the Doctor walked up a few steps to better address the woman. It seemed to be a girl around her age with dark hair pulled into two braids, skin that was so pale it may almost be sickly, and several layers of clothing on.

“And how do you know that?” the Doctor wondered, raising a brow at the girl.

“'Cos I do,” the girl shrugged.

Zoe scoffed. “That tells us a lot,” she mumbled.

“And I'm telling you,” the girl carried on as if she hadn’t heard Zoe, “don't answer it.” 

“Well, if you know so much, tell me this. How can it be ringing?” the Doctor asked as he marched back to the phone. “It's not even a real phone,” he said and pulled the phone out of the box to demonstrate. Zoe watched as the phone was easily peeled out of the box without wires or cables attaching it to anything. “It's not connected, it's not-,” he glanced back and so did Zoe just in time to see the girl gone.

“I didn’t even hear her leave,” Zoe murmured, furrowing her brows at the spot where the girl had stood.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Well, if she’s gone I’m answering it,” he sighed.

“Hold on!” Zoe exclaimed. She dropped the cat down on the ground and smiled sadly as it ran back to the stack of boxes it had been sitting on when they found it. “So long Madame Mittens,” she mumbled.

She headed over to the Doctor’s side and he smirked at her as he answered the phone.

“Hello? Hello?” He prompted to dead silence. “This is the Doctor speaking. How may I help you?” He smiled and Zoe snorted at the sight of him getting such joy from saying his name.

There was another beat of silence until, “Mummy? Mummy?” A child’s voice called out.

The Doctor’s face fell and when he glanced down at Zoe she could see the concern beginning to flood his eyes.

“Who is this? Who’s speaking?” He asked as all the lightheartedness he had once had when introducing himself drained from his tone.

“Are you my mummy?” the child asked.

“Who is this?” the Doctor repeated, his voice getting harsher and harsher.

“Mummy?” the child implored. This was beginning to seem like it could go on for ages.

“How did you ring here?” the Doctor wondered. “This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything,” he said, lifting the phone again as if that could prove anything to the child on the other end of the line.

“Mummy?” the child asked one more time and then the dial tone buzzed.

The Doctor frowned and inspected the phone for a moment while Zoe narrowed her eyes at him. “What the hell was that?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” the Doctor mumbled. “But I have a funny feeling we aren’t going to be leaving here without finding out,” he sighed.

“Oh, that sounds lovely,” Zoe bit back sarcastically.

The Doctor chuckled softly and shook his head as he turned his attention back to the Tardis. He knocked on the door lightly. “Rose? Rose are you in there?” He called.

Zoe frowned and swung the door open. “Rose?!” She hollered with no response. Zoe turned and shrugged at the Doctor.

Before either of them could open up with an idea about where Rose might have gone there was a loud crash, like someone had knocked several bins down to the ground. The Doctor and Zoe both turned to the noise and without a moment of hesitation, bolted towards it.

They swung around the corner of the entrance to the alley and Zoe spotted a few knocked over bins just across from them. She tapped the Doctor lightly as his eyes were tracing the road for any sign of distress and pointed them out. He smirked and held out his hand to her with a raised brow which she gladly took.

They headed over to the bins and the Doctor helped her as they both hopped up to peer over the brick walling into somebody’s backyard.

“This feels a bit creepy,” Zoe mumbled to the Doctor.

“Ah, don’t think of it like that,” the Doctor shook his head. He took a deep breath. “Think of it like you’re observing the time period.”

“Still, I wouldn’t want some random people sniffing around my backyard and claiming they’re observing the time period,” Zoe told him.

“Don’t watch if it bugs you that much,” the Doctor shrugged.

Zoe considered the idea for a single moment before groaning and shaking her head. “No, I can’t just step down I’m too curious.”

The Doctor chuckled lightly. “Welcome to my world.”

“Arthur!” A middle-aged woman with dark hair hollered as she shepherded her son into the shelter. “Arthur, Will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the siren?”

A middle-aged man, presumably Arthur, marched out with his hands in his pockets and his face twisted furiously. “Middle of dinner, every night. Blooming Germans. Don't you eat?!” He snapped.

“I can hear the planes!” His wife called, clearly ridden with anxiety over their open presence while the planes are so close.

“Don’t you eat?!” Arthur hollered up at the sky. 

Zoe snorted and the Doctor snickered at the angry man missing out on his meal. 

“Oh, keep your voice down, will you?” His wife moaned as he marched towards the shelter. “It's an air raid! Get in. Look, there's a war on,” she tried to explain as she shepherded her husband into the shelter.

“I know there’s a war on,” Arthur grumbled. “Don’t push me.”

As soon as the door closed a figure emerged from behind the shelter. Zoe sucked in a sharp breath. It was the same girl from earlier. The same girl who insisted the Doctor shouldn’t answer the phone. The Doctor and Zoe watched with wide eyes as she crept around the shelter keeping a steady eye on the door in case it swung open. She tiptoed through the backyard and with one final look around at the area, she headed through the back door and closed it.

“What do you think she’s doing?” Zoe asked, glancing back at the Doctor as he watched the door with furrowed brows.

“Normally I’d say robbing the place during the air raid but she doesn’t seem the type,” he sighed.

“Doesn’t seem the type?” Zoe echoed with a small frown. “We’ve known her for about five seconds. We don’t even know her name.”

“And I’m a good judge of character,” the Doctor insisted. Zoe just chuckled and rolled her eyes.

“Whatever you say,” Zoe hummed.

“Never mind that. If you want to find out what she’s doing we best be getting in there before she runs out and finds a new place,” the Doctor said as he hopped down off the bins.

“How long do air raids last?” Zoe wondered. She hopped down off the bins too and began walking along the wall by the Doctor’s side. “Because I was thinking they maybe happened for the night or-.”

“Much longer than that,” the Doctor scoffed. “For the most part air raids lasted eleven weeks during this war.”

“Holy shit!” Zoe exclaimed, her jaw dropped as she watched the Doctor try and work out if he was lying. 

“Oi!” the Doctor snapped. “Language!”

“Oh, you’re worse than my dad,” Zoe grumbled, waving a hand to dismiss him. “But still, eleven weeks?! How did anybody get anything done?!”

The Doctor snorted. “They didn’t. In case you haven’t noticed there’s a war on,” he said, gesturing to the area around them where bombs were going off and planes were soaring extremely low to the ground.

Zoe rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I-oh, forget it,” she grumbled. 

The Doctor snickered and grabbed her arm when she tried to head around the house to the front door. “Let’s go around the back,” he said, climbing over the short metallic fencing.

“Why?” Zoe frowned. “There’s a perfectly good front door-.”

She was cut off by several sharp whistles from around the front door.

Zoe narrowed her eyes and peered at the wall of the building as if it would tell her where the whistling came from. 

“Who was that?” Zoe wondered. “Why would somebody whistle in the middle of an air raid? Wouldn’t that just draw attention to them?”

“You ask quite a lot of questions when we can easily figure it out for ourselves by going inside,” the Doctor reminded her.

Zoe rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she muttered. She climbed over the metallic fencing and joined the Doctor as they headed across the backyard to the back door. “How are we supposed to find Rose if we’re following this girl around though?” 

“We can ask her about Rose if you like,” the Doctor offered. “But right now I need to know how someone not only rang a phone that isn’t a phone but managed to speak through it.”

“About that, why isn’t the phone there a phone? I mean your box says police public call box. Wouldn’t it make sense to have a functioning phone in it?”

“I do have a functioning phone in it,” the Doctor nodded. “That one just isn’t it.”

“Okay, then why have that decorative phone there?” Zoe wondered. “Who has a decorative phone?”

“It isn't exactly decorative I mean- look,” the Doctor huffed. “Do you want to spend the whole night asking why the phone is there or do you want to join me and start asking the right questions about the child on the other end of the phone?”

“The child is probably alien like you,” Zoe shrugged. “What more do you want?”

“One, if that child is an alien-which we have no reason to believe it is, it is nothing like me. I can’t ring phones that aren’t phones,” the Doctor explained. “Two, that child could pose a threat because if it’s capable of doing that it’s got to be capable of more and that includes hurting people.”

“Why would a child asking for their mummy want to hurt people?” Zoe wondered.

“Why would the child phone me solely to ask if I was their mummy?” the Doctor retorted. “Plus, even if they don’t want to hurt people, they may have no choice or they may do so by accident.”

“Ah, so this is what traveling with you is,” Zoe hummed. “Flying across all of time and space saving people from aliens or alien things that may hurt them.”

“Trying to save,” the Doctor corrected. “Sometimes I don’t get that lucky,” he said, his voice growing thick with emotion and making Zoe wince.

There was a story there but seeing as she had barely known him a day she figured now may not be the best time to ask. Sure, she had no idea how long he had known her but even if he was completely comfortable with her asking, she wasn’t sure how comfortable she would be with listening to some sad backstory when she barely knew anything real about him in the first place.

With a soft sigh, the Doctor headed inside with Zoe following closely behind. In the distance, likely in the dining room, they heard voices. All the voices except for that of the girl’s they had met sounded young. Zoe pictured a swarm of children all clambering around the dining room with the girl they had met.

The Doctor turned to her and placed his finger to his lips. They couldn’t let the girl or any of the kids notice them or pay any real attention to them just yet. She nodded and they made their way to the dining room. 

Inside the dining room, the girl they had met stood at the head of the table carving a turkey while at least a dozen kids sat around the table waiting for her. They were all merely children with dirt all over their clothes, faces, and hair. They had to be homeless and starving based on the way they all flooded their plates with food even before the girl was done carving the turkey.

Zoe’s heart twisted at the very sight. She couldn’t imagine how many children had struggled to survive in a big city like London because of the war. She knew children were homeless and struggling even in her own times, but conditions were most of the time better than what they could be. These children’s lives were only made worse because they had less than no security in the middle of the war and might very well be blown up at any time. Even sitting at that dining table, but they still sat there desperate to fill their stomachs.

She and the Doctor crept past the children as they all paid attention to the discussion the girl they met was having with the new boy.

“He told me about it,” the new boy told her, elbowing a boy by his side. 

The girl nodded as she continued to carve. “Sleeping rough?” She guessed.

“Yes, miss.”

Zoe and the Doctor pulled up chairs to sit beside each other at the table and plucked two plates off the stack the girl had likely set up for the children.

The girl still had not noticed their presence and sat down as she finished carving. She picked one slice from the plate of carved turkey before passing it to the children. “Alright, then,” she sighed. “One slice each, and I want to see everyone chewing properly,” she instructed.

The children did as she told them and each stabbed one slice of turkey before plopping it on their plate and passing it to the person sitting next to them.

“Thank you, miss,” one boy said before passing the plate.

“Thanks, miss,” another said before doing the same.

“Thank you, miss.”

The plate reached the Doctor and he happily stabbed two slices and plopped them down onto his plate. “Thanks, miss!” He exclaimed. 

Zoe snorted and shook her head as he passed the plate to her, but all the children had a much more violent reaction to noticing the presence of two adults at the dinner table. They jumped out of their seats, each either gasping or letting out small shrieks of fear.

The only person who remained seated in the presence of Zoe and the Doctor was the girl they had met.

“It's alright. Everybody stay where you are!” the girl snapped at the children who were looking around and debating running.

“Good here, innit?” the Doctor smirked. “Who's got the salt?” He asked, glancing around the table.

Zoe found the salt just ahead of where she was seated. She smiled and reached across to hand it to him. The Doctor beamed and blissfully sprinkled some salt over his food. 

Meanwhile, Zoe plucked her one slice off the plate and placed it down in front of the child she was seated beside. 

“Back in your seats,” the girl huffed at the children. “They shouldn't be here either.”

The children all loudly sighed in relief and slowly shuffled back into their seats. The kid sitting beside Zoe plucked the plate from the table and immediately resumed the train of taking one slice and passed. Zoe smirked at the sight while she continued to eat through her meal. After all, she had no idea when she’d get another chance to eat properly or sleep so she wasn’t going to miss the chance while she had it.

“So, you lot,” the Doctor sighed, shuffling the food around on his plate. “What’s the story?”

“What do you mean?” One of the older boys asked, frowning at the Doctor and Zoe.

“Well, how did you get here?” Zoe asked, shrugging as she shoveled food into her mouth.

“You're homeless, right?” the Doctor presumed. “Living rough?”

“Why do you want to know that? Are you coppers?” One of the other boys asked, frowning at the pair of them. 

Zoe snorted. “You think coppers would be stealing this family’s food with you?”

“Of course we’re not coppers,” the Doctor scoffed. “What's a copper going to do with you lot anyway? Arrest you for starving?” He asked and the children laughed at the very idea. He checked his wristwatch. “I make it 1941. You lot shouldn't even be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now.”

“I was evacuated. Sent me to a farm,” one of the children said.

“So why’d you come back?” the Doctor wondered.

“Can’t have been you picked this life over some farm away from it all,” she hummed.

The boy looked down at the table, but whether it was in fear or regret Zoe couldn’t tell. “There was a man there,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, same with Ernie,” one of the children added, nodding to the older boy sitting across the table from him. “Two homes ago.”

“Shut up,” the older boy, Ernie, huffed. “It's better on the streets anyway. It's better food.”

“Yeah,” the boy who called their attention to Ernie, smiled. “Nancy always gets the best food for us,” he said, nodding to the girl the Doctor and Zoe had met.

The Doctor and Zoe shared a smile as they inadvertently learned her name and across the table from them, Nancy winced. 

“So, that's what you do, is it, Nancy?” the Doctor implored, raising a brow at the girl.

“What is?”

“Provide for these kids,” Zoe shrugged, as she began working on her vegetables.

“As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo!” the Doctor exclaimed, clapping his hands together and making everybody but Zoe momentarily jump. “Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you,” he hummed.

“Something wrong with that?” Nancy prompted, glaring at him and practically daring him to say something.

“‘Course not!” Zoe scoffed, her mouth full of food as she spoke.

“Wrong with it? It's brilliant,” the Doctor smirked. “I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical,” he muttered.

“I was thinking Les Miserables without the actual food,” Zoe mumbled and the Doctor snorted.

“That too,” he agreed with a nod.

Nancy narrowed her eyes at the pair of them and Zoe could see she was trying to see how to get them to leave without scaring or disrupting the kids while simultaneously trying to understand what they wanted from her if they weren’t going to hurt her or the children.

“Why'd you follow me? What do you want?” Nancy wondered.

“I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call,” the Doctor said simply. “You seem to be the one to ask.”

Nancy clenched her jaw. She was hiding something. Zoe could see it from a mile away. She was unnecessarily guarded about this phone. “I did you a favor. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling you,” she snapped.

“A fat lot of good that did him,” Zoe murmured as she stabbed the last bite of turkey. Nancy’s eyes widened and the Doctor winced.

“Great, thanks for that,” the Doctor muttered and Zoe smirked at him as she shoved the turkey into her mouth. “We’re also looking for a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean a specific one. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving. Anybody seen a girl like that?” He asked, raising a brow at the children around the table.

Each of them either furrowed their brows as they tried to remember or shook their heads no.

Nancy slammed her hands on the table and marched over to snatch the Doctor’s plate from under his nose. The Doctor’s face fell and he pouted at the woman. “What have I done wrong?” He huffed.

“You took two slices,” Nancy said and the table burst with laughter at him. Zoe grinned and waved her fork at him.

“Exactly why I only took one slice,” Zoe hummed.

“Well, you could’ve let me in on that bit,” the Doctor pouted and Zoe just laughed.

“No blondes, no flags. Anything else before you leave?” Nancy prompted, raising a brow at the Doctor.

“Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking. Something I've been looking for. Would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb,” the Doctor explained as he fished a small pencil and notepad out of his coat. He began roughly sketching the capsule they were looking for. “Not the usual kind, anyway. Wouldn't have exploded. Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would have looked something like this.” He held up the drawing for the kids and Zoe peered around to get a look at it.

“That’s horrible,” Zoe remarked.

The Doctor whistled. “Everybody’s a critic,” he hummed.

“Rather be honest then sugarcoat everything,” Zoe shrugged. She scooped up the last of her food and ate it right as there was a knock at the window.

Everyone jumped and Nancy looked like she had just seen a ghost. 

“Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?” the child called.

The Doctor frowned and stood up while Zoe peered over her shoulder. The Doctor pushed away the curtain and there on the other side was a small boy with sandy hair and a gas mask. He placed his palm on the window the second everybody in the dining room could see him.

“Mummy?” the child implored.

“Who was the last one in?” Nancy snapped to the group.

“Them,” Ernie said, jabbing his fork towards the Doctor and Zoe.

“Oi, way to squeal mate,” Zoe huffed.

“No, they came round the back,” Nancy sighed. “Who came in the front?” She asked, her eyes darting around the group.

A small boy timidly raised his hand. “Me,” he murmured.

“Did you close the door?” Nancy practically begged the boy and his eyes grew wide as his memory failed him, or maybe he did remember but was too scared to admit the truth aloud.

“Er,” the boy mumbled.

“Did you close the door?” Nancy asked once again.

“Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?” the child recited like some sort of verse.

Nancy huffed, pushing herself off the table and running out to the entrance. The Doctor and Zoe shared a frown before Zoe got up from the table and they headed out after her. They caught her just as she slammed the door on the child and locked and bolted it.

“What's this, then?” the Doctor frowned. “It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know.”

“I suppose you’d know,” Nancy scoffed. 

“I do actually, yes,” the Doctor said.

Zoe looked up at him with wide eyes. What story was he hiding? She wondered aimlessly what sort of child the man standing by her side had. What was life like growing up on his alien planet as he was being shaped into the person he now was? How was his childhood different from the one a normal human like her might have? She didn’t doubt that there were countless differences but a little voice in the back of her mind suddenly wanted to learn all of them. She wanted to know what had created the brilliant Time Lord she barely understood.

“It’s not exactly a child,” Nancy muttered.

Zoe furrowed her brows at the girl. “Then what is it?”

“Mummy?” the child called.

Nancy shook her head at Zoe and raced into the dining room to gather the children. “Right, everybody out. Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move!” She hollered. 

Almost immediately all the children bolted out of the dining room making their way to the backdoor. Some were even still putting on their coats as they ran and Zoe could almost feel the desperation and terror hanging in the air around these children. Something was seriously wrong.

“Mummy? Mummy?” the child continued to implore. The shadow that the child made in the glass window of the door was beginning to make Zoe uneasy. She shifted on her feet and watched the child as though it might crash through the glass and murder her. “Please let me in, mummy. Please let me in, mummy.”

Zoe jumped as the child shoved his hand through the letterbox. It was pale and there was a gash on the back. The blood was dried but it didn’t make the sight any less concerning. 

“Are you alright?” the Doctor asked, studying the child like he was a science experiment.

All of a sudden, a vase smashed against the door and the child retracted his hand. The Doctor and Zoe turned to see Nancy staring at them, even paler than she had been with nothing but fear wrapped around her eyes. She was even shaking she seemed so terrified of this small child.

Zoe didn’t know anything about the child but the fear Nancy and the children bore began to rub off on her and she could feel unease coiling around her stomach being in the very presence of the child.

“You mustn’t let him touch you!” Nancy snapped at the Doctor.

“What happens if he touches me?” the Doctor wondered.

Nancy took a shaky breath. “He’ll make you like him,” she mumbled as she glanced towards the boy’s shadow.

“And what’s he like?” the Doctor prompted.

Nancy winced and tried to turn away. “I’ve got to go,” she murmured.

“Nancy, what’s he like?” the Doctor insisted. His brows were furrowed and Zoe could tell just from the sound of his voice that he wasn’t letting up on this. He was going to get to the bottom of whatever was happening no matter the cost and Zoe couldn’t help but admire that.

Back home Zoe wasn’t exactly the type of person to back down from a fight but she was one to give up on a lot of important things. She had countless teachers tell her day and night that she had so much potential. Her father, as abusive as he was tried to scream himself hoarse about her potential but regardless she always fell short. She always gave up on tests, courses, and before heading off with the Doctor she had no doubt she was days away from flunking out of several uni courses just because she stopped caring. She wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe, after her mother died and she slowly lost each of her friends closing herself off to a world outside her father’s mental abuse she lost the ability to care about anything really important. Maybe, it was her fault for not considering something may be seriously wrong in her mind but just falling into this pattern without bothering to consider the fact it will cost her everything good in her life. Regardless, before she put on that vortex manipulator her life was in absolute shambles so a part of her couldn’t help but be grateful for the escape route.

Nancy took a shaky breath and glanced towards the boy still standing at the door before looking back at the Doctor and Zoe. “He’s empty.” 

Before either of them could even bother to ask her to elaborate, a black phone on the counter along the entrance began to ring. The Doctor looked tempted to answer it but Nancy stopped him. “It's him. He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw.”

The Doctor answered the phone regardless and Zoe heard the child say once again, “are you my mummy?”

Nancy snatched the phone out of his hand and slammed it back down on the hook. As she did so, the radio in the dining room started up, and amidst the backdrop of music, they heard, “mummy? Please let me in, mummy.”

The Doctor marched into the dining room and with a frown, he tried to tune the radio to get it off the child speaking. Right as he stopped the sound of the child, a clockwork monkey started up.

“Mummy, mummy, mummy,” the child chanted.

The Doctor picked up the clockwork monkey and narrowed his eyes at it.

Nancy let out a shaky breath and shook her head at the Doctor as though he were completely mad. Maybe, he was. Zoe wasn’t sure if she would be the one able to tell the difference. 

“You stay if you want to,” Nancy huffed. With that, she rushed down the corridor to the back door where all the children had run out of.

“Nancy!” Zoe called, running up to the entrance to watch as the back door slammed shut. 

Zoe glanced back just in time to see the Doctor shoveling past her to the front door where the child was still standing.

“Doctor, do you really think it’s a good idea to keep standing here?” She worried. “I mean maybe, Nancy is right. Maybe, we should just go.”

“That’s not exactly the way I do things,” the Doctor mumbled.

“Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in,” the child begged.

“Your mummy isn’t here,” the Doctor told him, frowning as the child stuck his hand through the letterbox once again.

“Are you my mummy?” the child asked.

“No mummies here,” the Doctor shrugged. He glanced back at Zoe and raised a brow. “Are you a mummy?”

Zoe scoffed. “As if I had any sort of stability to be a mother to a child,” she muttered.

The Doctor sighed and turned back to the child. “Had to try,” he stated, though something told Zoe he had already known the answer to that question. “Nobody here but us chickens,” he told the child.

“Excuse me?” Zoe implored, raising a brow to the Doctor’s backside.

The Doctor chuckled to himself. “Well, this chicken,” he amended.

“I’m scared,” the child confessed.

Zoe’s eyes widened. “That’s the first thing he said since asking for his mummy.”

“You gotta give all lifeforms a chance,” the Doctor nodded. “Proper or improper, they might surprise you.”

“Oh, now I feel like a twat knowing he can talk after I tried to run,” Zoe moaned. 

The Doctor smiled and shook his head. “You’re not a bad person for wanting to run. In fact,” he frowned and looked where the child’s head was in the shadow. “Why are those other children frightened of you?” He wondered.

“Please let me in, mummy,” the child requested. “I'm scared of the bombs.”

The Doctor took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, I’m opening the door now,” he announced.

“Doctor, are we sure that’s a good idea?” Zoe winced. “We don’t really know much about this child other than he’s empty and scared.”

“Well, we’ll find out more when we let him in then, won’t we?” the Doctor retorted with a smirk.

“That doesn’t seem like the greatest plan but who am I to argue with the designated driver?” Zoe sighed and the Doctor chuckled. 

“Exactly,” the Doctor hummed. “As long as we don’t let him touch us we should be fine,” he assured her. “Now, come on then,” he said as he turned his focus back to the child.

The child pulled his hand out of the letterbox and the Doctor began to unlock and unbolt the door. Zoe grit her teeth and clenched the banister on the stairwell to her left just waiting for the child to burst in and murder the pair of them. However, when the Doctor swung the door open there was nobody there.

“Okay,” Zoe sighed, tiptoeing forward as the Doctor peered outside and found the street empty. “That’s somehow even creepier.”

The Doctor chuckled and shook his head. “Come on,” he said, stepping outside and waving for her to follow him. “Since he’s gone we’ve gotta try and track Nancy down for more answers.”

“Oh, it never ends,” she groaned. She headed out of the house, closing the door behind her before she hurried to his side to follow him.


	3. Are You My Mummy?

“Y’know it’s sort of scary how fast you can do this,” Zoe remarked as they headed across the railroad tracks to follow Nancy.

“It’s not scary,” the Doctor frowned. “I’ve just got the nose for these things,” he shrugged.

They watched as Nancy slid into a small shack and disappeared from sight, keeping an eye out to make sure nobody was watching her as she slid away. Zoe smirked at the Doctor as he hid them from Nancy’s view momentarily before starting after her once again. They headed over to the sound of cans clattering finding Nancy knelt over and pulling items out of a small sack to place something on the ground.

She glimpsed up for a single second and jumped when she spotted the Doctor and Zoe smiling at her.

“How’d you follow me here?” Nancy asked.

“Direct that question entirely to him,” Zoe said, waving towards the Doctor with a sigh. “He’s the one who knew how to hunt you down in the middle of London during an air raid.”

Nancy nodded and raised a brow at the Doctor.

“I’m good at following, me,” the Doctor smirked, clearly tooting his own horn. “Got the nose for it.”

“People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to,” Nancy told him, frowning at the Doctor and clearly beginning to grow suspicious or more concerned about what his intentions might be.

“My nose has special powers,” the Doctor hummed, joking about his own talents rather than explaining how he knew where she’d be.

Nancy snickered softly and glanced at his nose. “Yeah?” She prompted. “Is that why it’s so…,” she trailed off.

“What?”

Zoe used her hand to cover her mouth so the Doctor wouldn’t see as she giggled at Nancy’s remark about his big nose while he looked thoroughly put out and pouted at the comment.

“Nothing,” Nancy shook her head and glimpsed away.

“What?” the Doctor persisted.

“Nothing,” Nancy assured him, meeting his eyes once again with a knowing smile. “Do your ears have special powers too?” She wondered.

Zoe barked out a laugh and rolled her eyes when the Doctor frowned down at her. “I’m not even going to say sorry, that was brilliant,” she hummed and Nancy beamed at her.

“What are you trying to say?” the Doctor asked with furrowed brows as he looked between the two women.

Nancy rolled her eyes and with a smile, she turned away as if making to head out of the shack. “Goodnight, mister, miss,” she said, nodding to both the Doctor and Zoe in turn.

“Wait, don’t go just yet,” Zoe frowned. “We could still help you.”

“Nancy, there's something chasing you and the other kids,” the Doctor stated and slowly Nancy began to turn her attention back to them, her face wrought with Zoe thought looked like self-hatred for doing so. “Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right? The thing we’re looking for, the thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?”

Nancy winced and hung her head, the air tense with the silence she brought before eventually she opened her mouth and spoke so softly both the Doctor and Zoe had to lean forward to hear her despite being barely a foot away. “There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station,” she told them.

“Take us there,” the Doctor instructed without a moment of hesitation.

“There are soldiers guarding it,” Nancy scoffed, rolling her eyes at the very idea. “Barbed wire. You’ll never get through.”

“Yeah, he has a special way of getting into places,” Zoe murmured. “I’m sure he can handle a few soldiers.”

The Doctor smirked at her confidence in him. “Try me.”

Nancy furrowed her brows as she looked between the overconfident pair. “You sure you want to know what’s going on in there?” She asked.

“We really want to know,” the Doctor insisted with a nod.

Nancy watched them carefully, clearly searching for any doubts or momentary concern about what they may meet on the other side of that barbed wire but finding none, she hung her head and sighed softly. “Then, there’s someone you need to talk to first.”

“And who might that be?” the Doctor implored with a raised brow.

“The Doctor,” Nancy answered cooly.

Zoe and the Doctor shared a wide-eyed look and the Doctor slowly began to smirk at the very idea while Zoe just furrowed her brows.

The Doctor took a deep breath and turned to Nancy. “Can you take us to him?”

Nancy rolled her eyes and nodded. “Yeah,” she mumbled, placing her sack down in the shack she waved for the pair to follow her as she headed outside.

They kept at a fair distance so they could keep an eye on her but still talk without her easily overhearing.

“Do you think that this Doctor has anything to do with you?” Zoe asked with a small frown. “I mean is it even possible for you to meet other versions of yourself when you're traveling through time?”

“It is,” the Doctor nodded. “I doubt this bloke has anything to do with me but I have met other versions of myself quite a bit.”

Zoe stared at the ground with wide eyes as she walked. “That must be mind-numbing. To be able to see another version of you at a different point in time. To talk to them. To-.”

“You get used to it after a little,” the Doctor cut her off. “And I usually don’t remember unless I’m the furthest face in the future.”

“The furthest face in the future?” Zoe frowned. “What’s that mean?”

“Well, Time Lords have a certain number of faces they can regenerate into. I’m on number nine right now and if I met my fifth or sixth face I’d remember it but if I met my tenth or eleventh face I wouldn’t remember until I was them,” the Doctor explained.

“Is that just how the rules of time work?” Zoe wondered. “I mean is that just for Time Lords or if I met myself when I was like fourteen I’d remember it by my fourteen-year-old self wouldn’t?”

“That applies to everyone,” the Doctor nodded. “If you met yourself at fourteen, this you would remember it but your younger self wouldn’t until you became this version of you.”

“That makes sense I suppose but it still feels so weird,” Zoe frowned. “Maybe, I just need a bit more time before I can get totally comfortable with the idea that I could meet my past or future selves.”

“It’s not always easy for the human mind to understand,” the Doctor shrugged. “The idea that you can be in the same place more than once without the universe immediately imploding.”

“No, but aren’t there rules to it?” Zoe asked, ignoring the jab about her humanity. “Like I’m not allowed to touch my past or future self or something?”

“Of course there are rules,” the Doctor scoffed. “Some can be broken and some can’t. It just depends on the rules. As far as rules go, though, that ones a big one.”

“So, I could talk to and spend time with my future self but I couldn’t touch my future self?” 

“Exactly,” the Doctor nodded. “You also can’t change fixed events unless you’re really clever,” he smirked. “Fixed events like certain people dying or world wars, for example, need to happen. You can go poncing about all of time and since time is in flux most of it can be rewritten and adapt to the changes you make. Somethings can’t be changed. That’s why Hitler can’t be killed as a baby no matter how many humans claim they would do it once they got their hands on time travel. That’s why the Titanic can’t be avoided. These things need to happen for certain future events to take place.”

“I think I get that,” Zoe frowned. “So, if I was to use my own life for an example: I needed to put on this vortex manipulator because if I didn’t the future I have and the potentially important things I do when traveling with you will never happen?”

“You’ve got it,” the Doctor smirked. “It took Rose bringing her own father back from the dead to understand that lesson.”

Zoe’s eyes widened. “I’m guessing that’s a story for another time,” she hummed. 

“It is considering the fact that we’re here,” the Doctor announced, pointing across the hill they were on top of to what appeared to be a military base.

The Doctor reached into his coat and pulled out a pair of what appeared to be ordinary binoculars until he started fiddling with them and Zoe couldn’t help but stare.

“How are you able to fit so much inside that coat?” Zoe wondered.

“It’s bigger on the inside,” the Doctor told her with a smirk. Zoe snorted and he proceeded to pull the super-binoculars up to his eyes so he could peer at the crash site. 

“Where’s the bomb that’s not a bomb?” Zoe asked, walking up to stand beside Nancy.

“The bomb's under that tarpaulin,” Nancy said, pointing out an orange tarpaulin. “They put the fence up overnight.” She sighed softly and tapped the Doctor on the shoulder directing both his and Zoe’s attention to a large building on the hill across from them. “See that building? The hospital.”

“What about it?” the Doctor asked as he zoomed his super-binoculars in on it.

“That's where the doctor is. You should talk to him.”

“For now I’m more interested in getting in there,” the Doctor muttered as he turned his binoculars back to the crash site and zoomed in on the tarpaulin.

“Talk to the doctor first,” Nancy insisted.

“Why?” Zoe asked with a small frown. “What’s so important about this doctor?”

Nancy hesitated before taking a deep breath and meeting Zoe’s green eyes with something pained in hers. “If you talk to him first, you might not want to get inside after,” she said with a shrug.

With that, she turned and began to head off. Zoe wasn’t planning to question her until the Doctor, without even moving his gaze from his binoculars, spoke up.

“Where’re you going?”

Nancy froze and turned to frown at the Doctor when she saw he was still peering through his binoculars. Quickly, she shook her head and rolled her eyes at him. Clearly, like Zoe had begun to do, she stopped questioning the odd little quirks the Doctor portrayed here and there and just attributed them to his strange but fascinating personality.

“There was a lot of food in that house,” Nancy explained. “I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now,” she shrugged.

“You’re a saint looking after all those kids, you know that?” Zoe told her with a smirk.

“Can I ask you a question?” the Doctor implored, still keeping his eyes trained on whatever he was looking at in the binoculars. “Who did you lose?”

Nancy faltered and the wall she had built up to keep them from looking too deeply into her life began to crack. “What?” She breathed.

“How do you know she lost someone?” Zoe wondered, frowning at the Doctor.

The Doctor took a deep breath and finally put the binoculars away so he could turn and give his full attention to Nancy. “The way you look after all those kids. It's because you lost somebody, isn't it?” the Doctor guessed. “You're doing all this to make up for it.”

Nancy stared at him with a hardened glare, unfaltering for at least a minute until eventually she broke with a sigh and glanced down at her feet. “My little brother. Jamie. One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell,” she said, nodding to the bomb under the tarpaulin. “I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just. He just didn't like being on his own,” she shrugged, tears in her eyes. She glimpsed off into the distance and Zoe felt her heart twist for the girl.

Zoe never even stopped to consider the fact that traveling through time and space meant jumping into the lives of people who were going through serious pain and terrible conditions through some of the worst time periods the world would have to face. These things were either ancient history or extremely far in the future to most and the Doctor lead a life where he’d see these events every other day and have to exist within them. It gave her a headache just to try and consider the toll might have on someone let alone accept the fact that this was going to be her new life as long as that vortex manipulator remained on her wrist. 

“What happened?” the Doctor asked softly.

“In the middle of an air raid?” Nancy scoffed. “What do you think happened?” She snapped rolling her eyes at the man.

Zoe winced. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

“Yeah,” Nancy sighed. “There’s nothing that can be done for him now,” she murmured.

The Doctor glanced up at the sky and smirked. “Amazing,” he remarked as he watched all the German and English planes soar across the sky. War and death were painted right across the night sky and the Doctor was grinning at it. Zoe almost wanted to laugh at him if it didn’t seem even more inappropriate than what the Doctor was doing.

“What is?” Nancy wondered, furrowing her brows as she looking up at the sky with the Doctor, likely expecting to find something great.

“1941. Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says no. No. Not here,” he hummed, beaming up at the English planes. “A mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me,” he murmured, grinning as he glanced between Zoe and Nancy. “Off you go then do what you've got to do. Save the world.”

Zoe stared at the Doctor with a feeling she couldn’t quite name swelling in her chest. She wasn’t sure if it was admiration, love, or pure awe. She had no idea what to expect heading into this life. There wasn’t exactly a handy guide she could follow on how to travel with an alien in his time and spaceship whilst simultaneously learning you’re technically immortal but she’d be lying if she said she expected anything like this. Part of her thought it might just be wandering about time and space with no real reason goofing about with an alien. She never expected to learn to admire and take pride in her humanity far more than she ever would have in her ordinary life. She never expected seeing an alien talk about how mighty and brilliant humans are. She never expected to see this face of the world.

Still, however, surprising all of this was she found she enjoyed it. She enjoyed seeing the universe from the Doctor’s eyes so far and she couldn’t help but look forward to seeing more of it.

Nancy turned with a small smile and left the Doctor and Zoe and the Doctor waved his hand for Zoe to walk ahead of him. “Ladies first,” he insisted and Zoe snorted as she began heading forward.

“Hospital, right?” She assumed.

“Yeah,” the Doctor sighed. “Might as well see who this doctor is and just what he can tell us about all of this.”

“Do you think he’ll be able to give any information about the child?” Zoe wondered with a small frown. “The child has to be connected to the bomb-or capsule, whatever it is.”

“Most likely,” the Doctor nodded. “Though we don’t know if this doctor would know more about how it’s affecting the soldiers at the crash site or the child so we can’t get our hopes up.”

“Oh, believe me,” Zoe hummed. “I never do,” she assured him.

They made their way to the hospital and once they got to the front sign the Doctor paused at the sight of a rusted padlock.

Zoe, on the other hand, paused at the sight of the ‘danger, no entry’ sign. She plucked the sign off the gate and showed it to the Doctor with a raised brow. “Is this just a thing you have? Trespassing into any places you can?”

“Oh, don’t tell me you aren’t curious,” the Doctor scoffed, rolling his eyes as he fished out his sonic screwdriver. 

“Do you just not have to worry about the law or something?” Zoe frowned as the lock sparked and opened the moment the Doctor pointed his screwdriver at it. “Can that psychic paper get you anywhere?”

“Sort of,” the Doctor shrugged. “So long as you don’t let your mind wander while holding onto it you’re usually fine,” he said, pushing open the gate and holding it open for her. 

Zoe walked through, rolling her eyes as the Doctor smirked knowingly at her. It wasn’t as if she was just going to run off and sit in the Tardis when it was just getting interesting. That was no fun. 

“Does that mean you’ve been arrested?” Zoe wondered as the Doctor walked up to her side. “I mean, maybe you’ve let your mind wander at the wrong moment and gotten yourself arrested?” He proposed.

“Of course I’ve been arrested,” the Doctor scoffed.

“You make it seem like I was supposed to guess that just by looking at you!” Zoe exclaimed. “I suppose I shouldn’t be too worried seeing as you’re clearly out,” she mumbled.

“Oh, so that’s what this was about,” the Doctor chortled. “Saving your own hide.”

“Well, that and it isn’t ideal to have the designated driver arrested while you're left out on the streets with no way home,” Zoe nodded, not even bothering to deny she was looking after herself.

“You have a vortex manipulator,” the Doctor reminded her with a huff. “As long as you have that on your arm you pretty much have a get out of jail free card.”

“Great, so I get to become a wanted criminal for breaking out of prison against my will,” Zoe shrugged. “That definitely sounds like the better option,” she remarked sarcastically.

The Doctor snorted and rolled his eyes. “You’ll be fine. I won’t let you get arrested.”

“Ah, you say that now but when we sit in a cold jail cell I’m only going to say I told you so,” Zoe warned. 

With that, she shoved the door to the hospital roughly and tumbled inside after it while the Doctor chuckled at her.

“Oh, you can shove it,” Zoe moaned which only resulted in the doctor laughing harder.

They headed into the dark cold hospital (what was with hospitals and always being beyond freezing?) and marched through the long wards. In every single bed, there was a sleeping patient but the fact that there were still patients in what appeared to be an abandoned hospital with their gas masks on. Ward after ward it was always the same, patients lying calmly in bed with their ordinary clothes on rather than hospital gowns and gas masks on each of their faces.

However, before Zoe could even consider opening her mouth to ask the Doctor about it the sound of a walking stick hitting the door made them both jump around. An older bald man with a doctor’s coat and a walking stick marched into the ward after them, paying most of his focus to the patients in the bed rather than the Doctor and Zoe. He seemed to be a bitter old man worn down by the war and the constant and dire need for his practice even more than there would usually be.

“You'll find them everywhere,” the man sighed. “In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them.”

“Yes, we saw,” the Doctor nodded. “Why are they still wearing the gas masks?” 

“They’re not,” the man said. “Who are you?” He asked, glancing between the Doctor and Zoe.

The Doctor winced. He couldn’t exactly tell the doctor he was the Doctor. “I'm, er. Are you the doctor?” He implored instead.

“Doctor Constantine,” the man nodded. “And you are?”

Before the Doctor could try and likely fail to divert the conversation from his name once again, Zoe stepped forward. “I’m Zoe,” she introduced, waving shortly to the man. “Nancy sent us.”

“Nancy?” Doctor Constantine seemed interested. “That means you must've been asking about the bomb,” he hummed.

“Yes,” the Doctor said, sighing softly in what Zoe hoped was relief for her covering for him.

“What do you know about it?” Doctor Constantine asked.

“Nothing,” the Doctor shrugged. “Why we were asking. What do you know?”

Doctor Constantine turned to them drawing a ragged breath and nodded to the patients in the beds around them. “Only what it’s done,” he murmured.

“It did this to all these people?” Zoe frowned, glancing around the ward once again as though that would tell her anything new about the bomb.

“These people, they were all caught up in the blast?” the Doctor assumed, looking around again as well.

“None of them were,” Doctor Constantine hummed and Zoe found herself getting more and more confused with each passing second. Doctor Constantine chuckled roughly at his own remark but that laughter soon devolved into coughed and he stumbled backward until he hit his chair to collapse down into. 

“You’re very sick,” the Doctor remarked.

“Dying, I should think,” Doctor Constantine agreed with a nod. “I just haven’t been able to find the time,” he hummed. He glimpsed around the ward one more time before looking up at the Doctor with a small frown. “Are you a doctor?”

Zoe covered her snort of amusement with her hand and winced when Doctor Constantine looked up at her with furrowed brows and clear annoyance at her amusement.

“I have my moments,” the Doctor shrugged, a smirk playing against his lips.

Zoe bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut so she wouldn’t bark out a laugh in such an inappropriate environment. She didn’t know if the Doctor actual had a medical license of any proper certification but it was quite entertaining to see the ignorant Doctor Constantine ask the Doctor if he was his name.

“Have you examined any of them yet?” Doctor Constantine asked, clearly keeping his focus off Zoe as he spoke.

“No.”

Doctor Constantine nodded solemnly. “Don’t touch the flesh.”

Zoe glanced up at the Doctor with a raised brow, silently raising the question whether or not he would actually examine the patients and if so how? The Doctor shrugged and pulled out his sonic screwdriver as he marched towards the first patient. 

He began scanning the man and with a sharp cough, Doctor Constantine spoke once again. “Conclusions?” He implored.

“Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side. Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can't see any burns,” the Doctor listed.

“Is it fused like I’ve got?” Zoe asked, careful not to mention what was fused to her flesh for fear of Doctor Constantine sticking his nose where it shouldn’t be.

“No,” the Doctor sighed. “You were fused with burns. This seems to have become one with the flesh without any burns or any serious injury.”

“Examine another,” Doctor Constantine instructed. 

The Doctor nodded and did as he said. He scanned the next patient over with his sonic screwdriver. His eyes widened. “This isn’t possible,” he breathed.

“No,” Doctor Constantine agreed.

“What is it?” Zoe frowned. “What’s not possible?” 

The Doctor moved to another patient and scanned them before standing up and turning to Zoe with a deathly pale face. “They’ve all got the same injuries,” he murmured and Zoe’s face fell.

“Yes,” Doctor Constantine confirmed with a nod.

With wide eyes, Zoe spun around and her eyes ran across the row of beds. She thought back to the wards flooded with people. All of them with the exact same injuries. How is anything capable of doing that? Human or alien?

“Identical, all of them, right down to the scar on the back of the hand,” the Doctor observed.

Zoe glanced at the scars on their hands and winced. They were the same shade, the same cut. The same everything. She stumbled back a few steps as her mind pushed forward the memory of the child trying to get into the house to eat with Nancy and the children. He had the exact same scar too.

Did the bomb somehow do this to all of them and the child was just the patient they never found? But if that was the case why were all these patients sleeping while he was awake? Something wasn’t adding up about all of this and despite her best instincts screaming how dangerous all of this was she found herself yearning to learn even more. Maybe, that was why the Doctor lived his life like this. She could definitely see the draw to this lifestyle.

“How did this happen?” the Doctor wondered. “How did it start?”

“Was it the bomb?” Zoe asked, turning back to face Doctor Constantine.

Doctor Constantine solemnly nodded. “When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim.”

“Dead?” the Doctor guessed.

“At first,” Doctor Constantine hummed. “His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?” He asked, raising a brow at the Doctor.

“The head trauma.”

“No.”

“Asphyxiation.”

“No.”

“The collapse of the chest cavity.”

“No.”

“Alright,” the Doctor sighed, giving up. “What was the cause of death?”

“There wasn’t one,” Doctor Constantine shrugged. Zoe felt her blood run cold and she could have easily placed herself in a horror movie at that moment where someone was sitting on their sofa screaming at her to run for her life. “They’re not dead.” He whacked a basket on the ground with his walking stick.

All of a sudden all the patients sat up straight in their beds and Zoe yelped, jumping back a few feet while the Doctor spun around in what Zoe could only describe as shock, staring at all the patients with wide eyes- his chest heaving dangerously.

“It's alright,” Doctor Constantine assured them with a small smile, strangely seeming amused by Zoe’s fear. “They're harmless. They just sort of sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just don't die,” he huffed as though that was the worst thing in the world.

“And they've just been left here?” the Doctor snapped, his jaw clenched in anger as he looked around the room. “Nobody's doing anything?” As he spoke the patients slowly lowered themselves back into their beds

“I try and make them comfortable,” Doctor Constantine shrugged. “What else is there?”

“Nobody else is helping you?” Zoe frowned. She knew there was a war on but this should at least pull the interest of one major authority. There was a hospital full of people who were just as empty as the boy they’d met with no cure in sight.

“Just you?” the Doctor implored with a raised brow. “You're the only one here?”

“Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither,” Doctor Constantine hummed, glancing down and Zoe felt her heart twist again for the poor people enduring this war. “But I'm still a doctor,” he shrugged.

“Yeah,” the Doctor sighed. “I know the feeling.”

Zoe winced. She wasn’t going to ask about the Doctor’s past until he told her, but she had a feeling it was worse than she could even dream of. She held no enthusiasm for finding out what had happened to her when the time came.

Doctor Constantine took a deep breath and glanced out the window. “I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb,” he muttered.

“Can they do that?” Zoe frowned.

“Probably too late,” the Doctor huffed. 

Before Doctor Constantine could answer, he began grunting and coughing roughly. Zoe and the Doctor both rushed to help him but he held up a hand to stop them in their tracks. 

“No,” he instructed. “There are isolated cases. Isolated cases breaking out all over London,” he groaned. His face began turning purple with the strain and Zoe tried to rush up to his side only for him to stop her again. “Stay back, stay back. Listen to me. Top floor. Room eight oh two. That's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again.”

“Nancy?” the Doctor frowned.

“It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she might-,” he muttered and pressed his hand firmly against his neck as his face grew hideous shades of red and purple.  
“There must be something we can do!” Zoe exclaimed, tears forming in her eyes as she watched Doctor Constantine struggle. She tried to run up to help him again but this time the Doctor grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

“M-M-Mummy. Are you my mummy?” He choked 0ut.

Zoe watched, her heart pounding out an uneven beat in her ears as Doctor Constantine’s face morphed into a gas mask.

Zoe stumbled back a few steps and felt her heart sink into her stomach, her eyes trained on the ground as her mind tried to make any sort of sense about what just happened. Her hands were shaking so she tried to stuff them into her black trousers only to curse the small pockets and end up rubbing them together despite the cold no longer affecting her.

The Doctor inhaled sharply and spun around to her. He leaned down and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Look, this isn’t the same as your mum.”

“Oh, of course, you know what happened to her,” Zoe groaned, trying to pull out of his grip but he only held her tighter.

“One day you’re going to trust me enough to tell me but for now you need to remember that just because you’re helpless in cases like this doesn’t mean you’re watching her all over again.”

“Am I allowed to feel awful for being so helpless?!” Zoe snapped. “Or are you going to take that entirely away because of her?”

“I know you’re thinking of her Zoe so listen to me,” the Doctor snapped, shaking her a bit to get her attention. “I need you to focus on the situation we’re dealing with right now. Not her. Nothing is going to get better if you put yourself back there rather than helping these people who still need you.”

“They’re empty!” Zoe yelled, ripping herself out of his arms. “What the hell am I supposed to do?!”

“Right now you’re not that girl but someday you will be and I have to hope that you still have it in you because you have the potential to save the lives of all these people. They’re empty, not dead, which means there’s still a chance we can bring them back. I just need you on my side and not weeping over when you were thirteen.”

Zoe clenched her jaw and spun away. She hated that he knew about her mother’s death. She hated he knew just how helpless she felt as she watched her fade away but there was a small piece of her that was grateful that he understood despite her bitterness over him knowing absolutely everything about her and her knowing nothing about him.

She took a deep breath and turned back to the Doctor. He was right. If there was something that could still be done for these people she had the opportunity to help instead of sitting back helplessly watching and weeping. 

Her brain taunted her with her mother’s last words like a carrot dangling over her head. She had to do something or else this would add to her list of regrets over doing nothing.

She inhaled sharply and nodded to the Doctor to confirm her stability just as two strange voices began calling out across the hospital.

“Hello?” A male American accent implored.

“Hello?” A feminine voice echoed. The woman had a London Cockney accent that was strangely familiar.

Zoe turned with wide eyes to the Doctor. “Is that-?” She breathed, but he already knew what she was about to ask. Is that Rose? Did she somehow find us before we could find her?

“Could be,” the Doctor nodded. “C’mon.” He held out his hand and she took it as they hurried out of the ward to find the voices.

They headed out to the corridor and Zoe grinned at the sight of Rose. She was beginning to miss the blonde and it was a bit of a whirlwind handling all that was the Doctor and everything he knew about her without anybody to help.

Rose was walking beside a handsome man with fair skin and well-kept dark hair. He had on a blue army coat fitting for the time period but something about the blue light he was shoving into that coat told Zoe he wasn’t exactly from around these parts. He had a charming smile that might make lesser individuals swoon if they were really head over heels into the pretty boys of the world.

“Good evening,” the man smiled. He held out his hand and shook both the Doctor and Zoe’s hands despite their shared looks of confusion. “Hope we're not interrupting. Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about the two of you on the way over.”

“He knows,” Rose said suddenly before the Doctor or Zoe could speak. “I had to tell him about us being _Time Agents_ ,” she said carefully, looking at them in the way that every good friend knew meant ‘ _lie, lie, lie!’_ It was the basic requirement for growing up with friends who had parents that at any point might get a little too curious.

The Doctor nodded and Zoe smiled kindly at Jack Harkness pulling off the perfect, ‘I totally know what you lot are talking about’ grin.

“Might I say it’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” Jack smirked. He lifted up her hand and kissed it sweetly, never taking his eyes off Zoe. “You’re even more gorgeous in person than Rose here lead me to believe.”

The Doctor glared at where Jack was holding Zoe’s hand so delicately, Rose just snorted and tried to cower away as her cheeks slowly grew pink, and Zoe raised a brow at him uncertain if she should be disgusted or insulted.

She settled for yanking her hand away and rolling her eyes. “Does that normally work or are you just trying it out until it does?”

Jack smirked and shook his head. “Being honest? It normally does.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Rose mumbled sarcastically.

Zoe snorted. “Well, it’s not going to work on me. No offense but I don’t normally go for pretty boys who think too much of themselves.”

“Ah,” Jack hummed. “Batting for the other team are you? I don’t blame you.”

“Actually batting for two teams,” Zoe smirked. "Men and women." Jack barked out a laugh.

“A woman after my own heart,” he smiled. 

The Doctor groaned loudly and cleared his throat, obviously being a bit more than put out about how blatantly he was being ignored at the moment.

“And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock,” Jack nodded, doing a quick two-fingered salute to the Doctor.

The Doctor’s face fell at the name. Jack shoved past the three of them and headed to the ward the moment it caught his eye while the doctor and Zoe stayed behind to question Rose.

“Mister Spock?” the Doctor implored with a raised brow.

“That the best you could come up with?” Zoe scoffed.

“What was I supposed to say?” Rose shrugged, glancing at her before turning back to the Doctor. “You don't have a name. Don't you ever get tired of Doctor? Doctor who?”

“It’s his name, Rose,” Zoe snorted.

“Nine centuries in, I'm coping,” the Doctor nodded.

“Never mind that,” Zoe sighed, waving him off and turning her focus to Rose. “What about you?”

“Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for a stroll,” the Doctor remarked.

“Who's strolling?” Rose scoffed. “I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid,” she smirked.

“Oh, so you both just fancy getting yourselves killed,” Zoe hummed. “I’m not saying I object, you have a hell of a way of doing it after all.”

“What?!” the Doctor exclaimed, not even bothering to address Zoe’s comments on how they travel.

“Listen, what’s a Chula warship?” Rose asked with a small frown.

“Chula?!” the Doctor cried.

“What’s a Chula?” Zoe murmured.

“Don’t know,” Rose shrugged. “Jack mentioned it. Said a Chula warship was here or something like that and he wanted to try and get us to buy it. I was figuring he could explain.”

“I’ll do one better and get him to explain himself,” the Doctor huffed, marching past the girls and into the ward.

Rose rolled her eyes and as the girls followed, she turned to Zoe with a small smile. “So?” She prompted. “What do you think?”

“About what?” Zoe snorted. “The boy or the barrage balloon because frankly, I have some thoughts on both.”

“The boy of course!” Rose laughed. “I know this is your first trip with us but you always used to give me advice on blokes and I was hoping we could start it now for you.”

“Start relationship therapy one trip in?” Zoe implored with a raised brow. “Alright,” she chuckled. “Might as well. I think he’s a flirt.”

“Well, that much is obvious.”

“No, I mean he’s the sort to flirt with you, me, the Doctor, and every other person who strikes his fancy. Not that that’s a bad thing. It’s hilarious in a friend but not the most fun in a relationship.”

Rose groaned. “I figured as much,” she muttered. “All the best ones are too good to be true,” she huffed.

“Amen to that,” Zoe snickered and with that laugh, they headed into the ward.

When they walked in they found Jack scanned the patients with some sort of wrist tricorder thing, the blue light on it flashing as it did so. Meanwhile, the Doctor was watching his with crossed arms and Zoe didn’t envy being Jack at the moment.

“This just isn't possible,” Jack sighed, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. “How did this happen?”

“What kind of Chula ship landed here?” the Doctor asked rather than answering him.

“What?” Jack said, turning back to them with a frown.

“He said it was a warship,” Rose answered in his stead. “He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer.”

“What kind of warship?” the Doctor persisted, never taking his eyes off Jack.

“Does it matter?” Jack shrugged. “It's got nothing to do with this.”

Zoe frowned. “Could the Chula ship have something to do with this?” She wondered, gesturing to the patients.

“This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it,” the Doctor told her and Zoe’s eyes widened. “What kind of warship?” He repeated, turning back to Jack.

“An ambulance!” Jack snapped. “Look.” He produced a hologram of the ship on his wrist device. “That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait.”

“Bait?” Rose frowned.

“I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk,” Jack huffed, marching past them and running his fingers through his perfect hair.

“You said it was a warship,” Rose reminded him.

“They have ambulances in wars,” Jack talked down to her like she was a child.

“Oi, don’t lash out just because you’re the one on trial here, mate,” Zoe hummed.

Rose smiled gratefully at her but Jack just rolled his eyes. “It was a con. I was conning you. That's what I am, I'm a con man,” he snapped. “I thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you?”

Rose clenched her jaw more than a little ticked off that she had fancied a con man. “Just a couple more freelancers,” she bit back.

Jack groaned and ran both hands through his hair as he spun around, looking up to the sky as if to ask God herself why he had to be in this situation. “Oh. Should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local color. I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain? Zoe here’s only a bit better wearing her damn nightclothes instead of a big old sign screaming she’s a time traveler. Anyway,” he sighed. “Whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship.”

“What is happening here?” Rose asked, frowning as she glanced around the room.

“It’s an epidemic,” Zoe murmured. 

“Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot,” the Doctor snapped, gazing pointedly at Jack.

“What do you mean?” Rose frowned.

“I don't know,” the Doctor sighed. “Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?”

“Those gas masks are part of their skin or something,” Zoe said, wincing as she remembered Doctor Constantine. “We were here when he,” she pointed to Doctor Constantine, “transformed completely into whatever these things are.”

“Are they really part of the skin?” Rose asked.

“Yeah,” Zoe sighed. “C’mon. I’ll show you.” She guided Rose over to one of the patients while the Doctor and Jack walked over to some of the other patients. “It’s not like my vortex manipulator burned into the skin. It sort of morphed out of the skin from what I could see.”

Rose winced. “That’s horrifying,” she remarked.

“I know, I was-.”

She was cut off by each of the patients suddenly sitting up in bed and making both Rose and Zoe jumped back a mile at the sight. 

“Mummy,” all the patients said in unison.

They all backed away from the patients slowly until the four of them were together in the center of the room, eyeing the patients like they were bombs seconds away from going off.

“Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?” the patients chorused. 

“What’s happening?!” Rose exclaimed.

“What set them off?” Zoe wondered.

“I don’t know,” the Doctor huffed and Zoe could hear the tinge of anger at that very fact.

“Mummy,” the patients hummed. They climbed out of bed and began slowly marching towards the group like zombies. Zoe’s eyes flicked towards the entrance they had taken but it was quickly blocked by patients who had been sleeping in the beds at the very front of the ward.

“Don’t let them touch you,” the Doctor instructed, his voice barely audible over the deafening hum of the patients.

“What happens if they touch you?” Rose wondered.

“You’re looking at it,” the Doctor murmured.

“It’s exactly what happened to that bloke,” Zoe breathed. 

“Help me, mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy.”

Zoe cowered back behind the Doctor between Rose and Jack silently wishing the vortex manipulator would take her away immediately and save her life.


	4. Go To Your Room

The patients slowly crept closer and Zoe felt Rose reach out and latch onto her arm, gripping her tightly while her hands were shaking. Zoe’s face fell and she placed a hand over Rose’s. 

Maybe, they wouldn’t get to survive this. The Doctor said time was in flux so with no way out Zoe may very well end up becoming one of those things and losing all that future she had left with the Doctor.

The Doctor stepped forward and frowned at the people in gas masks. “Go to your room,” he muttered.

Zoe looked up with wide eyes as all the patients stopped. Was he really going to keep them alive by telling off some patients?

“Go to your room,” he repeated, slightly louder and with a bit more confidence as he saw it had an effect on the patients. They tilted their heads curiously at the Doctor. “I mean it. I'm very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross. Go to your room!” He hollered.

There was a beat of silence and Zoe held her breath, praying to whatever deity she could dream of that this insane plan actually worked out. Soon, the patients gradually began turning around and with their heads hung low they headed back to their bed.

The Doctor let out a deep sigh and so did Zoe as she released Rose’s hand and rushed up to the Doctor’s side.

“You did it,” Zoe breathed, placing a gentle hand on the Doctor’s arm.

“I'm really glad that worked,” the Doctor chortled. “Those would have been terrible last words,” he said and Zoe laughed.

The Doctor took a deep breath and headed back to Doctor Constantine’s desk alongside Jack. Jack pulled out a chair and put his feet up at the table while Rose went to get a closer look at the patients. Zoe sat down on the ground beside the desk and pulled up her sleeve to get a better look at her vortex manipulator. 

The way the Doctor had put it things sort of sounded like she would be popping away every five seconds never really staying anywhere long enough to get invested and yet she was able to stay here much longer than she would’ve assumed. Not that she was upset over it. It was far greater than she had thought. She was really just surprised.

“How was your con supposed to work?” the Doctor wondered, eyeing Jack carefully.

Zoe glimpsed up at him, finding herself curious as well at the idea. 

“Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put fifty percent up front, oops!” He shrugged, smiling not so innocently. “A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con,” he hummed.

“Yeah. Perfect,” the Doctor scoffed.

“The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day,” he chuckled, but his smile fell when he looked through the reactions of the other three. “Getting a hint of disapproval,” he mumbled, shifting awkwardly in his seat.

“Take a look around the room. This is what your harmless piece of space-junk did,” the Doctor snapped. 

“It was a burnt-out medical transporter,” Jack insisted. “It was empty.”

The Doctor clenched his jaw. “Zoe. Rose.”

Zoe climbed to her feet and the two women headed over to his side. 

“Are we getting out of here?” Rose asked.

“We’re going upstairs.”

“I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living,” Jack assured them. “I harmed no-one. I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it.”

“I'll tell you what's happening,” the Doctor snapped. “You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day.”

All of a sudden, a siren wailed in the distance, loud and blaring for absolutely everyone to hear.

“What’s that?” Rose frowned.

“The all clear,” Jack answered.

“I wish,” the Doctor scoffed, rolling his eyes at Jack.

He flung the door open and Zoe hurried up to his side as Rose and Jack glanced helplessly at each other.

“What are you hoping to find in his room?” Zoe wondered. “Because we already know there were children out the night the ambulance landed we’ve seen as much.”

“We need to figure out what the immediate effects were and what exactly is happening to these people,” the Doctor explained. 

“We know what’s happening though,” Zoe frowned. “They’re being fused to the gas masks and calling out for their mummies.”

“Yes, but was that always the case?” the Doctor wondered. “Did they devolve into calling for their mummies? Plus, what’s the full range of the abilities this child has? Nancy said he can use anything with a speaker to talk out of. What else can he do?”

“You make it sound like we know nothing about this,” Zoe muttered. “I figured we knew quite a bit.” 

The Doctor paused as they reached a staircase and pointed upward. Zoe nodded and they ran up the stairs to where Doctor Constantine had said the child’s room was.

“Not nothing,” the Doctor sighed. “Just not enough.”

“Do you really think Jack intentionally had anything to do with this?” Zoe wondered. “Because that’s sort of how it seems you’re treating him and if he did I don’t blame you but if he didn’t-.”

“I don’t think he was aware of what he was doing when he dropped that ambulance and ignorance is worse than intentionally doing something bad because he was clearly just seeking for profit not considering what he was doing may actually hurt somebody.”

Zoe winced. “Okay, yeah, that is worse.”

They reached the top of the stairs and the Doctor cursed when he spotted the door. It was large and metal and very clearly not something they could break into easily.

“Can’t you just sonic it open?” Zoe frowned.

“Probably,” the Doctor sighed. “But I think I’m gonna ask Jack for this one. See what technology he has and force him to get into the child’s room.”

“You really don’t like him do you?” Zoe smirked.

“I don’t like what he planned and how he made a living,” the Doctor corrected. “If he had different intentions or just one thing different about his personality I may have thought better of him than I am now.”

Just then, Zoe heard Jack and Rose calling out for them coming down the corridor.

“Zoe!” Rose hollered. “Doctor?!”

“Mister Spock?!” Jack called.

The Doctor headed down the second flight of stairs and poked his head around the stairs to see Jack and Rose. “Have you got a blaster?” He asked Jack with a small frown.

Jack couldn’t have been more elated at the Doctor asking him for his help. “Of course!” He exclaimed.

Jack and Rose ran up the stairs and Jack fished his blaster out of his coat.

“The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt. This was where they were taken,” the Doctor explained.

“What happened?” Rose asked both Zoe and the Doctor.

Zoe was starting to get the feeling that she was a lot more knowledgeable about these sorts of things in the future as opposed to now when she knew next to nothing considering how many questions Rose directed to both her and the Doctor.

“Let’s find out,” the Doctor nodded. “Get it open.”

Jack grinned extremely wide and practically jumped at the chance to impress the Doctor as he whipped out his blaster and aimed it at the lock. 

“What's wrong with your sonic screwdriver?” Rose asked as the Doctor headed away from Jack and over to her side.

“Nothing,” the Doctor shrugged.

Jack used his blaster and square rays of blue descended on the lock, vaporizing it and leaving a square hole. With a smirk, he twirled the blaster as he stuffed it back in his coat and swung open the door for the others.

“Sonic blaster, fifty-first century,” the Doctor observed. “Weapon Factories of Villengard?” He guessed.

“You’ve been to the factories?”

“Once,” the Doctor shrugged. 

“Well, they gone now, destroyed,” Jack sighed. “The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot.”

“Like I said. Once,” the Doctor nodded and Zoe snorted. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind the Doctor had something to do with that vaporization. Not after what she’s seen from him. “There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good,” he grinned.

With that, he headed inside and Zoe giggled as she followed him only for her face to drop at the sight of the wreck inside. They seemed to be in some sort of observation room like most scientists or doctors might have to observe patients, except the chairs scattered around a table before the one-way mirror was on the ground and the contents of the table were a mess. The one-way mirror was absolutely shattered far more than would be necessary if someone were just breaking out on the other side and through the hole, Zoe could see there was clutter on the other side as well as in the observation room.

Jack and Rose walked through, tiptoeing around the mess in a stunned daze.

“What do you think?” the Doctor questioned the group but clearly kept the question directed at Jack.

“Something got out of here,” Jack murmured.

“Yeah. And?” the Doctor implored with a raised brow.

“Something powerful. Angry,” Jack deduced and Zoe snorted. He clearly didn’t know who the room belonged to.

“Powerful and angry,” the Doctor echoed as he nodded.

“Or terrified,” Zoe mumbled. “Maybe, he was just scared.”

“That’s more likely,” the Doctor agreed. “Though what he was scared of is the real question.”

Rose and Jack headed through a door on the far left of the room that the doctors likely used to get into the child’s room and Zoe saw their faces fall as they spotted the small twin bed and the hundreds of children’s drawings. There weren’t just children’s drawings on papers scattered across the floor but on the walls as well and they were of one thing: a woman. A stick figure woman in different sizes, colors, and shapes but always a woman. Mummy.

“A child?” Jack gasped. “I suppose this explains Mummy.”

“How could a child do this?” Rose frowned.

The Doctor tiptoed towards the table the doctors had been likely using to jot down notes or observations and flicked the switch on a tape machine. The machine hissed for a moment as it started and played the tape on it.

“Do you know where you are?” Doctor Constantine’s voice crackled through the tape machine.

“Are you my mummy?” the child responded.

“Are you aware of what's around you? Can you see?” Doctor Constantine implored.

“Are you my mummy?” the child repeated.

“What do you want? Do you know-,” Doctor Constantine began but was cut off by the child.

“I want my mummy!” the child snapped. “Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?”

“Doctor, I’ve heard this voice before,” Rose breathed.

“Me too,” the Doctor nodded.

“We saw the child,” Zoe sighed. 

“Mummy?” the child questioned.

“Always are you my mummy?. Like he doesn't know,” Rose frowned.

“Mummy?”

“Why doesn’t he know?” Rose wondered.

“Are you there, mummy? Mummy? Mummy? Please, mummy? Mummy?”

The Doctor hit the table roughly and marched into the child’s room with Zoe following closely behind. He began to pace the room and Rose looked to Zoe, raising a brow and likely hoping for some sort of glimpse into his mindset. Zoe could do nothing more than shrug. She could understand some of his basic emotions but she didn’t know him well enough to understand what he was feeling most of the time or what he might be thinking. One day she might and Zoe absently wondered whether or not that was actually a good thing. 

“Doctor?” Rose prompted the man, a bit of anxiety creeping into her voice.

“Can you sense it?” the Doctor murmured as he continued to pace the room like a caged animal.

“Sense what?” Jack asked.

“Coming out of the walls,” the Doctor sighed. “Can you feel it?”

“We can’t feel anything Doctor,” Zoe shrugged.

“Mummy?”

The Doctor stopped and grinned at them like they were children’s entertainers, he was amused but thought all the jokes they were making were silly and juvenile. “Funny little human brains,” he remarked. “How do you get around in those things?”

“When he’s stressed, he likes to insult species,” Rose explained to Zoe and Jack with a shrug.

Zoe snorted. “I would too if I were him,” she mumbled.

“Zoe. Rose. I’m thinking,” the Doctor huffed, pressing his fingers to his temples as he paced.

“But when he cuts himself shaving, he does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than,” Rose told Zoe with a snicker and Zoe couldn’t help but let out a snort of amusement.

All of a sudden, the Doctor stopped before the one-way mirror and grinned at the trio. “There are these children living rough round the bomb sites. They come out during air-raids looking for food,” he explained.

“Mummy, please?”

“Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?” the Doctor proposed.

“The Chula warship,” Zoe nodded, following his train of thought.

“It was a med-ship,” Jack corrected. “It was harmless,” he assured them with a shrug.

“Yes, you keep saying harmless,” the Doctor hummed, his tone that of a parent’s when they know you’re lying but are trying to make you confess the truth yourself. “Suppose one of them was affected, altered?”

“Altered how?” Rose wondered.

“I’m here!” the child cried.

“We still don’t know the extent of this. I mean, how much did that med-ship affect the child and what’s it doing to the child now?” Zoe implored.

“It's afraid,” the Doctor sighed. “Terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will do,” he muttered, a smile beginning to slide across his face. “It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room,” he laughed.

“Doctor,” Rose mumbled, furrowing her brows.

Zoe frowned and listened as well in order to hear a strange flapping and creaking from something she didn’t understand.

“I'm here. Can't you see me?” the child asked.

Zoe narrowed her eyes. The child wasn’t asking for his mummy. Something was wrong. She glanced to the tape machine to see if it was still playing and her heart stopped beating in her chest when she saw the end of the tape flapping against one of the metal prongs on the machine.

“What’s that noise?!” Rose exclaimed, wincing against the annoyance.

“It’s the tape,” Zoe breathed, her eyes never leaving the tape machine.

“End of the tape,” the Doctor nodded in agreement. “It ran out about thirty seconds ago.”

“I'm here, now. Can't you see me?” the child asked once again.

“What’s it doing?” Zoe mumbled feeling the bile rise up in her throat. She couldn’t seem to sever her eyes from the tape machine.

“I sent it to its room,” the Doctor chuckled. “This is its room.”

The Doctor spun around and they all looked to see the child standing patiently in the doorway. Zoe flew backward, her heart beating loudly in her ears at the sight of a mere child.

“Are you my mummy? Mummy?” the child asked, tilting his head at Rose and Zoe.

“Doctor?” Rose whispered, stepping back behind the Doctor and Zoe as Zoe stared at the child with wide eyes.

“Okay, on my signal make for the door,” Jack instructed. He fished around in his coat pocket for a moment before whipping out a banana and aiming it at the child. “Now!” He cried.

Nobody moved.

“Mummy?” the child asked curiously, tilting his head at Jack.

The Doctor whipped out Jack’s blaster and pointed it at the wall making a nice square in the wall. “Go now!” He cried. Zoe and Rose joined hands before running out of the square while Jack followed closely after with the Doctor behind him. “Don’t drop the banana!” the Doctor shouted at Jack.

“Why not?!” Jack exclaimed, frowning at the banana in his hand.

“Good source of potassium!” the Doctor beamed and Zoe snorted. He definitely had some entertaining priorities.

Jack rolled his eyes and shoved the banana in the Doctor’s hands, snatching his blaster back. “Give me that!” He snapped. He pointed the blaster at the square in the wall just as the child began heading towards the wall, evidently much faster than the zombie patients. Jack reversed the square in the wall so it no longer existed.

Zoe peered at the banana in the Doctor’s hands. “Can I have that?” She implored. “I’m a little peckish and I don’t know when my next meal will be.”

The Doctor snorted and nodded, passing her the banana to peel open.

Jack twirled his gun and smirked at the trio. “Digital rewind. Nice switch,” he remarked nodding to the banana Zoe was snacking on.

“It's from the groves of Villengard,” the Doctor shrugged. “I thought it was appropriate.”

“There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?” Jack implored with a frown. 

“You really sound surprised after what you’ve seen of him?” Zoe snorted, her mouth full as she spoke.

“Bananas are good,” the Doctor beamed.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud and Zoe choked on her banana as the wall began to crack so much so that the child could just push out the walling a bit and be there before them.

Rose jumped and used her arms to shield the Doctor, Jack, and Zoe as if on instinct. “Doctor!” She cried. 

“Come on!” the Doctor called. 

Zoe finished her banana as they ran and tossed the peel in a bin as they headed down the corridor to their right, straight towards another ward. However, before they could even get remotely close the doors burst open and dozens of patients walked out.

They spun around and tried to head down the corridor that was on their left but patients came from that angle as well. They were blocked from both sides and the child was pounding his way out to them.

“Mummy. Mummy. Mummy,” the patients chorused.

“We’re trapped,” Zoe gasped.

“It's keeping us here till it can get at us,” the Doctor muttered.

“It’s controlling them?” Jack frowned.

“It is them,” the Doctor corrected. “It's every living thing in this hospital.”

“Is that why the patients were dormant when we arrived?” Zoe wondered. “Why they would only sit up when Doctor Constantine made a loud noise?”

“Exactly,” the Doctor nodded. “He had no need for them until now. Until he needed to get to us.”

“Okay,” Jack sighed, holding up his blaster. “This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disruptor. Doc, what you got?” He prompted, raising a brow at the man.

“I've got a sonic, er,” the Doctor held up his screwdriver enthusiastically at first before his face fell and he turned away from Jack. “Oh, never mind,” he mumbled.

Zoe snorted. She felt bad for the Doctor but she had seen films where they had sonic items like Jack was listing. Nobody had a sonic screwdriver and while it might be nice for other things, fending off hospital patients and a child trying to morph them into empty zombies did not exactly call for a sonic screwdriver. Then again she figured that might be the point. The Doctor didn’t seem like the type to carry a weapon. After all, his name was the Doctor.

“What?” Jack implored, still curious what sonic item the Doctor had.

“It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that.”

“Disrupter? Cannon? What?!” Jack snapped.

Zoe rolled her eyes. It was cute seeing the men compare sizes like teenagers but the patients were getting closer and she was willing to bet the wall only had a few seconds left with the way the child was going at it. She needed a plan.

“It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!” the Doctor exclaimed.

Zoe clenched her jaw. There had to be some way out. She glanced behind them. Bars on the windows. There was no way they could get those off in time and even if Jack could use his blaster she had no idea how long the drop was and they could end up dead just as easily as they could end up empty by the hands of the child.

“A sonic what?!” Jack hollered.

Zoe tapped on the floor a bit with her combat boots. It couldn’t be thicker than the wall and she knew the fall likely wouldn’t be worse than one out the window. If they were lucky they might even end up in an empty room. The odds were certainly better than a fall out the window.

“Screwdriver!” the Doctor cried, whirling around and holding up his sonic screwdriver.

Immediately after the child burst through the wall and began climbing over the bricks to get to them.

“Going down!” Zoe screamed. She yanked Jack’s blaster over and shot it down at the floor to create a perfect square where they were all standing.

They fell through and landed roughly on the floor. Jack rolled and quickly closed the square before the patients or the child could go falling in after them.

Zoe got up and helped the Doctor and Rose to their feet. “Are you lot alright?”

“Could’ve used a warning,” the Doctor grumbled and Zoe rolled her eyes.

“Oh, the gratitude,” Rose huffed. “I’m fine, thanks,” she said, smiling at Zoe.

Zoe beamed at her and nodded. “Let’s find the lights, shall we? Let these two duke it out over their bloody toys?”

Rose snorted and nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Who has a sonic screwdriver?!” Jack exclaimed, right on cue as Rose and Zoe wandered around the room looking for anything that might be a light switch.

“I do,” the Doctor huffed.

“Lights,” Rose breathed, feeling around the place for a light switch.

“I think this is- damn!” Zoe snapped when she hit her hand against a power panel instead of some light switches.

“Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ooo, this could be a little more sonic?” Jack snorted.

“What, you’ve never been bored?” the Doctor scoffed.

“There’s got to be a light switch,” Rose murmured. She headed back over to Zoe’s side and the brunette shrugged. 

“Maybe, over here,” Zoe proposed, heading to the other side of a desk in the corner of the room.

“Never had a long night?” the Doctor implored with a raised brow. “Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?”

Zoe slammed her hand on the light switch and as soon as the lights came on, all the patients in the ward they were in sat up straight in their beds. “Shit!” Zoe shrieked.

“Mummy. Mummy,” the patients moaned.

“Door!” Jack snapped.

They all scrambled for the door to their right but it was locked. Jack tried to use his blaster on the door but it fell short. He hit it but the blaster just spluttered, groaned and didn’t do anything.

“Damn it!” Jack hissed.

“Mummy.”

“It's the special features,” Jack shrugged. “They really drain the battery.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes and got the door open for them to all run inside with his sonic screwdriver. 

“The battery?!” Rose exclaimed.

As soon as they were all inside, the Doctor turned around to sonic the door closed.

“That’s so lame!” Rose cried.

“You said it yourself,” Zoe chuckled. “He’s too good to be true.”

“Look, I was going to send for another one, but somebody's got to blow up the factory,” Jack hummed, plopping down in a chair by the door.

“Oh, I know,” Rose smiled. “First day I met them, they blew my job up. That's practically how they communicate.”

“Oi, I haven’t done that yet don’t go lumping me in with things I don’t even know about,” Zoe huffed.

“No, but the point is you do it,” Rose hummed. “Not like I’m complaining or anything you were certainly nicer than he ever was that day.”

The Doctor ignored all three of them and marched past them when he finished sonicking the door. 

“Okay, that door should hold it for a bit.”

“The door?!” Jack scoffed. “The wall didn’t stop it!”

“Well, it's got to find us first!” the Doctor snapped. “Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!” He insisted, clicking his fingers at the group.

“Well, we used to have a banana and in a pinch, you could put up some shelves,” Jack offered, nodding to the Doctor.

“Window,” the Doctor said, nodding to the tiny barred window across from the door. He headed over to it and jumped up on a small crate beneath it to peer outside it.

“Barred. Sheer drop outside. Seven stories,” Jack said bluntly.

“Nothing in here,” Zoe hummed, picking up a broken radio and winced as bugs crawled out.

“And no other exits,” Rose sighed, crossing her arms at the Doctor.

“Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?” Jack chuckled.

The Doctor hopped off the crate and turned to glare at Rose. “So, where'd you pick this one up, then?” He asked, waving to Jack.

“Doctor,” Rose muttered, clearly seeing he was heading down a dangerous path. 

“She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship,” Jack grinned. “I never stood a chance,” he laughed.

The Doctor clenched his jaw as he glared at Jack for a solid minute before taking a deep breath and spinning around to run his hands over his short hair. “Okay. One, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?” He asked, turning around and raising a brow at Zoe and Rose.

Zoe winced and frowned down at her wrist. The wrist where the vortex manipulator lied. It felt like a bee had stung her but slowly the stinging was morphing into burning and it was beginning to spread. 

“Yeah. Jack just disappeared,” Rose huffed, waving to the absent seat where Jack had been.

Zoe pushed up the sleeve of her grey jumped and grit her teeth against the burning. The blue light was flickering fast again. “Yeah,” she sighed. “And I’m about to.”

The Doctor turned to her with wide eyes and glanced down at the vortex manipulator. He placed his hands on her shoulders. “Look up at me,” he instructed.

“It hurts, Doctor. It-.”

“I know but this next part is important. You know I’m going to have another face, but look for me. You may not appear right near me. Make sure you can get to me. Tell me this is your second trip. From then on, everything will be okay,” he assured her.

Zoe groaned and desperately tried to rub her wrist but couldn’t even reach it because the vortex manipulator was where she should be rubbing skin. “You can’t-You can’t promise that.”

“No, but I can hope,” the Doctor sighed. “Stay safe,” he instructed. He pulled her close and kissed her forehead.

Zoe glanced up at him with tears in her eyes. “I’m scared,” she confessed in a whisper.

Before he could respond, she disappeared.

Rose groaned and ran her fingers through her hair. “Brilliant, now we’ve got even fewer assets than we first had when we ran in here,” she huffed.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and marched back to the window, pulling out his sonic screwdriver to try and do something rather than sit on his hands and wait for the child to find them.

* * *

Zoe was sucked through a tube and landed on her face in the middle of what appeared to be a desert. She groaned as she climbed to her feet and wiped all the sand off her face.

“Oh, lovely. Now we’ve got her to worry about,” a posh feminine voice hummed. 

Zoe narrowed her green eyes adjusting to the sudden sun in her eyes when she was in a dark cold cabinet two seconds ago. When her eyes finally adjusted she spotted a woman with short brown hair in a leather jacket spinning slowly as she hung upside down, tied to some rocks. Across from the woman was another lady with her brown hair done up in a bun and her clothes much older appearing as though they were from the 1800s or somewhere around that time.

Both of the women were staring at her but when she looked at them she knew in her gut that neither of them was the Doctor. She had seen the way the last Doctor looked at her and she had seen the age in his eyes. She saw a similar age in the eyes of the woman in the old-fashioned clothing but it was odd. She heard this voice in her head just screaming the Doctor wasn’t there. She wasn’t sure if it was because his DNA was burned into her skin or something he wouldn’t bother to tell her but there was a thrumming in her veins that said the Doctor wasn’t too far but he wasn’t as close as these women.

“Where,” Zoe groaned as she stumbled through the sand and the sun hit her awfully. “Where’s the Doctor?”

“Just what we were discussing,” the old fashioned woman smiled. “Come have a seat next to Mummy, love.”

Zoe rolled her eyes. “I’m early in my trips with this thing I don’t know either of you.”

“Oh, lovely,” the tied up woman grumbled. “You told me our meeting was funny but I never imagined this,” she huffed.

Zoe giggled as she eyed the woman. “Sorry,” she shrugged. “I’m Zoe Wilson,” she introduced, stepping up before the woman and holding out her hand. 

“Yes, I know who you are,” the tied up woman sighed. “I met you way back with his last face. That WiFi thing I can hardly even remember at this rate. But never mind that,” she shook her head. “I’m Clara. Clara Oswald,” she smiled.

“Nice to meet you,” Zoe grinned. “Might I ask, Clara, why are you tied up?”

“Oh, that was me,” the old fashioned woman called, raising her hand like she was in class. 

“Yeah, I sort of figured she didn’t tie herself up,” Zoe chortled. “Why did you tie her up?”

“We’re in the middle of the desert just outside Skaro. There may be nothing to eat,” the woman shrugged. Her face fell at Zoe’s confusion at the word Skaro. “Oh, right, Skaro is the home of the Daleks. Aka the Doctor’s worst enemy. I can’t spill too many secrets or he’ll be all cross and though I miss seeing that vein that pops out in his head I’d rather not see it pop out over you. I’d give you a brief history on the Daleks but it’s quite the bore. An absolute tosser called Davros made them. These tiny little adorable aliens locked in about a hundred cases of metal and steel and all the boring building materials. They want the entire universe to be Dalek which would be a good idea if it hadn’t worked out so awfully for me,” she huffed, rolling her eyes. 

“Sorry,” Zoe frowned, furrowing her brows at the woman. “Who’re you?”

“Right, introductions!” the woman exclaimed, beaming at Zoe. “I’m Missy, short for the Master. You’ll see why that’s important later,” she said, winking at Zoe. She held out her hand and after a moment of hesitation, Zoe accepted it and slowly shook it, narrowing her eyes as she focused in on every little detail about Missy.

“You-You’re a Time Lord, aren’t you?”

“Time Lady, please,” Missy insisted, curtseying with a proud smile.

“Huh, I didn’t think there were any more besides the Doctor otherwise I figured he’d be off traveling with them,” Zoe shrugged.

“Oh, that, my dear, is a story for another time,” Missy scoffed. 

“What about the Doctor?” Zoe frowned.

“Getting to it!” Missy exclaimed. She threw her hands up in the air and cut the rope keeping Clara tied to the rock. 

Clara fell and collapsed right on top of Zoe. “Oo, sorry,” Clara groaned. 

“No apology necessary,” Zoe chuckled. “Though if you could get off that’d be lovely, you’re getting a bit heavy.”

Clara giggled and nodded. “Yeah, sure.” She climbed off Zoe and then helped the girl to her feet. 

“Now, back to our story!” Missy cried. “Why does the Doctor always survive?” She wondered. “Darling, now that you’re here I pose the question to you as well.”

Clara and Zoe shared a look. 

“Because he’s clever,” Clara shrugged.

“And he has help whenever he can’t be clever enough,” Zoe added.

"Yes, but there are lots of clever dead people,” Missy moaned. “I love killing clever clogs and their help, they make the best faces,” she smirked.

“Sorry, did she just say killing?” Zoe frowned, turning to Clara.

“Oh, yes, killing,” Missy grumbled. “Work through it,” she huffed. “We all know the Doctor finally has.”

“Not really,” Clara frowned.

“Well enough to work with me okay that’s getting through it!” Missy snapped. “Still neither of you have answered my question!” She exclaimed.

Clara furrowed her brows for a moment as she thought about the answer. Eventually, her face brightened.

“Because he always assumes he's going to win,” she muttered. “He always knows there's a way to survive. He just has to go and find it,” she smiled.

“Yes, except this time- and keep up darling this is the bit you’ve missed,” Missy said, nodding to Zoe. “He made a will and threw himself a goodbye party. Now, if the Doctor assumes he's going to die, what happens then?”

Zoe’s eyes widened as she heard that the Doctor made a will. What made him assume he was going to die? What was so bad that he would make himself a will and throw himself a goodbye party? Zoe had sworn not to ask questions about these things until the Doctor told her but there was a large piece of her that found she was itching to know regardless of propriety. Nevertheless, none of that mattered if she was nowhere near him. She had to reach the Doctor and save him with two women she had only just met.

Clara glanced at Zoe, clearly thinking the same thing. 

“We do,” the women said in unison.

Missy sighed softly as though she were disappointed by their answer and turned to face what Zoe assumed to be Skaro. It was very much an alien world fitting all the stereotypes she had seen in science fiction movies including flying creatures. 

“He's trapped at the heart of the Dalek empire. He's a prisoner of the creatures who hate him most in the universe. Between us and him is everything the deadliest race in all of history can throw at us. We, on the other hand, have a pointy stick,” she said, holding up a barely pointy stick she had likely sharpened before Zoe arrived. “How do we start?”

“Only way the Doctor would start,” Zoe shrugged.

“We assume we’re going to win,” Clara smirked.

“Oh, pity really,” Missy pouted. “I was actually quite peckish,” she chuckled. With that, Missy began marching forward through the desert to the Dalek empire. 

Clara and Zoe shared a look before hurrying after her and walking on either side of her. 

“Can we have sticks too?” Clara wondered.

“Make your own sticks,” Missy huffed.


	5. The Planet of the Daleks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Missy is that bitch I don't take criticism on this I miss Michelle Gomez in this role.

Gradually, Clara and Zoe fell behind Missy as she walked and moved into their conversation. Zoe was beginning to think that the only way she’ll ever learn and properly understand where she landed was taking the time to talk to someone privately and ask every question she can think of otherwise she was very much being thrown headfirst into the water with no idea how to swim.

“So, what’s this Doctor like because I just came from angry Northerner and I-,” Zoe began.

“Oh,” Clara chuckled. “You told me about that one, erm, sorry to report but this one is just an angry Scotsman,” she said and Zoe groaned, rolling her eyes at the very image. “It was quite the culture shock from his last face who was a kind baby-faced idiot.”

I haven’t met him yet but now I suddenly can’t wait,” Zoe giggled. “Okay, so angry Scotsman,” she nodded. “But what’s the deal with his will?”

“Well, that woman over there, Missy is technically the last surviving Time Lord with the Doctor.”

“Time Lady!” Missy hollered and Clara rolled her eyes.

“It’s sort of a long explanation. You said yourself that you meet and spend a lot of time with her last face though. She’s a bit of a nutjob but she’s the Doctor’s oldest friend even though they keep trying to kill each other.”

“I told you, Clara dear,” Missy huffed, spinning around to address them while they walked. “Trying to kill each other is like our texting. My darling gets a very basic understanding of it later you should be able to muster up enough brainpower to do so as well.” With that, she spun back around and kept walking.

“I’d say she isn’t always like this but from what I’ve seen this is her entire personality,” Clara murmured and Zoe snorted. “Anyway, he sent Missy this Time Lord version of a will. Bit complicated. I don’t get it, but I’ve stopped trying to understand every detail of the Doctor’s life a long time ago.”

“Good decision,” Zoe remarked with a chuckle.

“You told me to do it,” Clara nodded. “Along with that will, we found him having this bloody big party for himself interfering with time massively. I know you’re still early in your travels but you’ve got to see that’s not something he would do just because.”

Zoe nodded. The last Doctor had given her the discussion about certain rules of time and she knew that meant he wouldn’t risk it so casually.

“When we got to him he wouldn’t say exactly what he’d done but it had something to do with Davos and the Daleks. Davos called him here likely to talk about it and the Daleks tried to kill us until Missy teleported us out and we ended up in that desert,” Clara explained. She didn’t continue and Zoe nodded in understanding. That was around the point she arrived.

“Okay, so would Davos just kill the Doctor right away?” Zoe wondered.

“No, Davos is a fickle old man. He likes to play with his food for a bit,” Missy explained, turning to them once again. “And considering how long his rivalry with the Doctor has been he’s not going to say goodbye at the drop of a hat. He’s a bit like me in that aspect,” she smiled.

“How long has his rivalry with the Doctor been?” Zoe asked.

“Oh, centuries darling,” Missy hummed. “Spanning well before the Time War into his first few faces. The only rival he’s had longer is yours truly,” she beamed, framing her face with her hands.

“Okay, I can get this,” Zoe nodded. “But one last question because you didn’t elaborate before, what are the Daleks?”

“The Daleks are sort of a race of warrior aliens,” Clara answered. Missy smirked at the girl and spun back around when she saw she didn’t have to answer. “Davros created them and placed them in these shells, forging them into this race of aliens that just want to be the only race in the galaxies or the superior race with the rest of us being test monkeys.”

“Oh, lovely,” Zoe remarked sarcastically. 

“Exactly what I thought” Clara sighed. “The Doctor says all they can feel is hate for anything that isn’t Dalek. They exist only to make themselves greater and exterminate everybody else.”

“And there’s no reasoning with them?” Zoe frowned.

Missy scoffed. “You may be clever enough to reason with singular Daleks but you can’t save the entire race, darling!” She called over her shoulder.

“There’s a small handful of aliens you can’t reason with,” Clara nodded. “The Daleks are one of them. The Cybermen are another, and the Weeping Angels.”

“I haven’t met the other two yet, but alright,” Zoe hummed. “So, don’t reason with them but don’t get killed by them either.”

“Essentially, yes.”

“I’m assuming the Doctor isn’t for killing them either?” Zoe implored, raising a brow at Clara.

“He tries not to but if it has to be done, he's usually the one who wants to do it. He gets mad when people take matters too far into their own hands because it’s sunk to genocide quite a bit when people do that,” Clara muttered.

“Brilliant,” Zoe said sarcastically. “Don’t kill them and don’t be killed by them. Just run and hide whenever you see one. And we’re going into an entire city inhabited by them?” She frowned.

“Great idea, isn’t it?!” Missy exclaimed with a laugh.

They reached a cliff edge where they could get a better look at Skaro and the planet before them. As they watched it, thousands of floating things Zoe assumed were Daleks rose and she heard one command echoing across them. “Exterminate the Doctor!” They cried in an annoyingly shrill robotic voice. “Exterminate!”

“What’s happening?” Clara frowned.

“What do you think?” Missy scoffed.

“They hate him, don’t they?” Zoe breathed, furrowing her brows at the city.

“He’s in the middle of that,” Clara sighed, her voice betraying her exasperation and fear for the Doctor even as her face didn’t.

“Ah, that’s what we need!” Missy exclaimed, spying something in the distance and heading off to get a better look. 

Zoe watched her leave with a small smile before heading over to Clara’s side and taking her hand. Clara turned to her and grinned, squeezing Zoe’s hand.

“We’re gonna save him,” Zoe assured her with a nod. “And until then he’ll find a way to survive. He has to.”

“Zoe, you didn’t see the way he looked at his goodbye party when I talked to him,” Clara huffed. “Normally, I can see this perseverance in his eyes. His will to survive. When I looked this time, I didn’t see it. I didn’t see any fight, any hope. I just saw exhaustion.”

Zoe considered her words for a minute and frowned. “Does he know you’re alive?” She wondered.

Clara glanced at her with furrowed brows. “I don’t think so,” she muttered. “I thought I was dead if I’m being honest. I had no idea Missy was teleporting us.”

Zoe nodded. “Then, he’s not going to let himself be killed.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“I may not have known the Doctor for long but I know he’s like me in one aspect: he lives for people. Last I left him I knew he wouldn’t die while our mate was missing because what would happen to her? He didn’t know if she was dead or alive but he wasn’t going to die until he figured it out. I could see it in his eyes. The way he carried himself. He may not have mentioned her as much as one should mention a missing mate but he wasn’t just going to swan off until he found her.”

“But that’s just it,” Clara sighed. “Normally, I can see that in him too but this time I didn’t see it.”

“That’s because you weren’t potentially dead,” Zoe told her. “The Doctor protects people. It’s what he does. You don’t even have to be in danger to know that. He tells people not to wander off because he worries and wants to protect us. I’ve barely known him a day and I worked all this out,” she chuckled. “You have to know that by now.”

Clara took a deep breath and hung her head. “I know, I just-I’m scared for him.” 

“And you have every right to be,” Zoe nodded. “But I’m not going to let the Daleks or the idea that he might already be regenerated or worse, dead, stop me from finding him and trying to save him. You shouldn’t let it stop you either.”

Clara smirked at her. “How are you so good at the motivational speeches so early on?”

“I was born with this talent,” Zoe boasted and Clara laughed.

“Oi!” Missy snapped across the desert. “Are we going to sit around laughing all day or are we going to save the eyebrows? Because quite frankly I’d be more than open to swanning off somewhere and leaving the two of you to your own devices.”

“We’re coming,” Zoe groaned. She took Clara’s hand and dragged the woman behind her towards Missy. They headed into a small cavern where Missy guided them over to a strange hole in the ground.

“Lovely, I’ve found just what we need,” Missy hummed. She waved to the hole in the ground.

Clara and Zoe shared a look, both exchanging looks of utter confusion as though that might help them understand Missy anymore.

Missy rolled her eyes. “It’s the Dalek sewers, ladies,” she huffed. “Honestly, darling, you get much brighter later in your timeline,” she remarked gazing pointedly at Zoe.

Zoe winced. “Sorry to disappoint?” She shrugged, unsure what she could offer the woman seeing as she just wasn’t the girl Missy had met yet.

“Hold on, Daleks have sewers?” Clara frowned, gazing between the hole in the ground and Missy.

“With one significant difference,” Missy nodded.

“Being?” Clara prompted with a raised brow.

“They’re ever so slightly alive,” Missy hummed.

Clara’s face fell and Zoe felt her stomach turn over at Missy’s words. “They’re what?” Clara deadpanned.

Rather than answer, Missy just narrowed her eyes at the hole. “How much of a drop would you say that is? Can you see the bottom?”

Clara furrowed her brows and leaned forward to try and get a better look. “Too dark,” she shook her head. “Er, we could chuck a stone down, or something,” she suggested with a shrug.

“Oh yeah, good idea,” Missy smiled. Rather than a stone, she shoved Clara into the hole.

“Clara!” Zoe yelled, running up to the edge to try and see if she could spot the woman.

Clara screamed for about three seconds before there was a heavy thud telling them she had hit the bottom of the sewers.

“Twenty feet,” Missy nodded.

“You can’t just chuck somebody down there without warning them!” Zoe exclaimed and Missy rolled her eyes.

“I must say, darling, you’re much more fun to play with in the future,” Missy sighed. 

“I’m going in after her,” Zoe muttered, swinging her legs over and into the hole, ignoring Missy’s remarks about her future self. 

“Now, that’s the Zoe I know,” Missy smirked.

“Clara!” Zoe called. “Stay away from the hole I’m coming down!” She waited for a minute for Clara to move out of the way before sliding down into the hole. She grit her teeth rather than scream and within a few seconds like Clara, she fell on the ground of the sewers with a thud.

She luckily managed to land on her backside which was more than she could say for Clara who she spotted face first on the ground a few feet away. She groaned and rubbed the back of her head as she rose but before she even had a chance to get her bearings she heard Missy yelling with glee as though she were on a fairground ride and right as she looked up to frown at the woman, the Time Lady landed on her feet right by her side.

“Oh, that was quite a bit of fun, wasn’t it?” Missy beamed, straightening out the bottom of her dress.

“How did you do that?” Zoe frowned. “I went in feet first like you and I landed on my back.”

“Oh, darling never underestimate how much more graceful I am than you lot,” Missy hummed. 

Zoe rolled her eyes and marched up to Missy’s side, peering into the Dalek sewers. The walls seemed to be moving as they were covered in about as many layers of slime as Zoe could dream of. The place was rotten and made her stomach turn at the sight, let alone the smell. It was surely one of the most disgusting places Zoe had ever been and she had once spent a summer shoveling poop at a barn every day for eight hours each day.

Just as she was about to voice those thoughts, they heard a soft moan from behind them. Missy and Zoe turned to see Clara slowly rising as she rubbed her forehead.

“Hello” Missy greeted with a smile and short wave.

Clara furrowed her brows as she glanced up at Missy. She looked back down and Zoe immediately spotted what she saw. Missy had dropped her pointy stick on the fall into the sewers.

Before Zoe could even think about moving to stop her, Clara snatched up the pointy stick and aimed it right as Missy but Missy merely seemed amused by the idea. 

“Oh, poppet,” Missy scoffed. “Do you think you could?”

“First chance I get,” Clara snapped, jabbing the stick out at Missy as if that demonstrated her willingness to stab someone.

“Okay,” Zoe huffed. She marched up between Missy and Clara while Clara glared at the Time Lady and Missy just grinned like this was some great big comedy. “Let’s all just take a breather and think about what we’re trying to do instead of turning on each other.”

“Why don’t you tell her that?” Clara frowned. “She’s the one who pushed me down a bloody hole!”

“So, your solution is killing her with a pointy stick?!” Zoe exclaimed, trying to help Clara see the absolute insanity in her plan.

“The two of you won’t survive down here on your own,” Missy hummed, crossing her arms and not letting up.

“You won’t survive turning your back,” Clara retorted.

“Clara!” Zoe snapped, but the brunette didn’t listen or even seem to register the fact that she spoke.

“Ooo. How exciting,” Missy beamed. She wanted nothing more than for Clara to skewer her with a pointy stick because she immediately spun around and put her hands on her hips waiting to be stabbed.

Clara made a move to go and stab her but before she could, Zoe grabbed the stick and raised a brow at Clara. “What exactly do you hope to gain from killing her? Is it anything better than us surviving the Dalek sewers and helping the Doctor escape the middle of Skaro where all his greatest enemies are around him in the thousands?”

Clara winced and glanced back at Missy who still had her back turned. She furrowed her brows and seemed to think about what Zoe said before she sighed deeply and dropped the stick.

Missy rolled her eyes. “God, you’re dull,” she huffed. She marched back over and without a fight from either of the women, she snatched the stick up off the ground. “In future, if you're going to take my stick, do me the courtesy of actually killing me. Teamwork is all about respect.”

“We’re not a team,” Clara scoffed, not even bothering to try and take the stick back.

A Cheshire Cat smile slid across Missy’s face. “Of course we are,” she said, beaming quickly at Zoe. “All miners need a canary,” she told Clara, gesturing between Zoe and herself when she spoke of the miners and towards Clara when she mentioned the canary. With a sigh, she spun back around and raised a brow at the sewers. “Now, hush, look around. Bit of a mess, isn't it?”

“Shouldn’t it be like this though?” Zoe frowned.

“You said it was a sewer,” Clara nodded in agreement.

“Daleks don’t generate much in the way of waste,” Missy murmured, beginning to walk without even looking back to Zoe and Clara. Either she had all the confidence in the world knowing they would follow her because they didn’t have much in the way of other options, or she couldn’t care less whether they were following her.

Zoe glanced around the sewer with a small frown. It was pretty much similar to what she expected of any sewer despite the convenient walkway that wasn’t riddled in much. The walls were covered in what looked to be freshly wet mud or some strange collection of squirming critters with soft drips of what she assumed was water coming down from them. Missy seemed to be having quite the fun time poking them and Zoe was just downright confused by what she was looking at but Clara appeared rightly concerned as she eyed Missy.

“So what is it all, then?” She wondered, gesturing around to what appeared to be waste on the walls.

Before Missy could speak, Zoe gradually tiptoed towards the walls to get a better look and see if she could work out what the waste that wasn’t waste was.

“Decaying Daleks,” Missy answered and Zoe jumped a mile away from the wall.

“I’m sorry, what?!”

Missy tossed a smirk at Zoe over her shoulder. “Daleks can't die. Genetically hard-wired to keep on living, whatever happens. Well. But they still age poor loves. Over time, the body breaks down, rots, liquefies. Interestingly, the Dalek word for sewer is the same as their word for graveyard,” she remarked before stabbing the wall with her pointy stick.

The Daleks shrieked and Zoe felt her stomach lurch up through her throat as she tiptoed backward wearing the same stricken face with wide eyes, pale cheeks, and goosebumps while she listened to the Daleks scream.

“We-We have to go through there?” Zoe breathed, pointing a shaky finger to the sewers.

“Oh don’t get squeamish on me now, darling,” Missy huffed. “The fun’s just started,” she beamed. She turned and skipped through the sewers to the tune of the Dalek screams.

Clara, on the other hand, turned and placed a gentle hand on Zoe’s shoulder. “Y’know what you first said to me when I started panicking while traveling with the Doctor? It hasn’t happened to you yet so of course, you wouldn’t, but we were on this submarine. There were these bodies and it made me realize just how real this world was. The traveling, the death. It wasn’t just some fun thing I could do for a while before heading back to my normal life, this was life. I could die at any moment. I was scared to death at that thought and I’ll never forget what you did for me. You sat me down and said, ‘Clara, traveling with the Doctor is one of the most terrifying things you could do. This is real. People are going to die and we might very well join them and if that’s too much for you, I understand- I do. But you’re not going to get another shot at something even remotely like this again. I mean, the chance to save all of history, the future and worlds you wouldn’t even know existed if you never met the Doctor. Every time you survive a trip you get to look back and say ‘I did that. I saved them. Nobody else. Me.’ On top of that, you get to see sights and parts of the universe you could have never seen at home on your sofa. Now, there’s going to be bad with that. There’s going to be monsters and moments where you want to crawl under your sheets and cry but you always have to go through the bad to get to the good. That’s just life. Now, you can either go home if this feels like too much for it or you can sit with me and we can talk about all the bad and good in this brilliant opportunity we both somehow managed to get’.”

Zoe grinned and hung her head. “I sound like I’m a lot more clever in the future than I am now.”

Clara snorted and shook her head. She wrapped her arm around Zoe’s shoulders and pulled the girl close as she guided her through the Dalek sewers. “I think you had just had more time with the Doctor. I mean I met you after you’d been traveling around for a bit on that thing,” she said, nodding to the vortex manipulator on Zoe’s arm. “You seemed like you knew everything in the world,” she chuckled. “I didn’t realize until a bit later that you and the Doctor were just as scared as I was.”

“Y’know it feels extremely weird talking about how much I know or don’t know or even how afraid I am in the future,” Zoe remarked.

Clara laughed sharply. “I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I’m not used to getting you so early in your travels. It’s all a bit new to me I suppose.”

“I could say the same,” Zoe hummed and Clara snorted. 

All of a sudden, a voice appeared over the speakers like it was on a PA system at school. “Clara Oswald,” the Scottish voice called and Clara skidded to a stop.

Zoe raised a brow at Clara as if to say: _is that him?_ Clara nodded furiously.

“I want Clara Oswald, safe, alive, and returned to me immediately. You bring her back. You do that. You do that now. Unharmed. Unhurt. Alive.”

“Your associate,” she heard a Dalek voice remark, though it was a bit more distant than the Doctor’s clear, crisp voice over the speakers.

“I saw what happened. I was there. And I'm hoping, for all of our sakes, that it was a trick,” the Doctor snapped.

“It was not a deception,” the Dalek insisted.

“Because if Clara Oswald is dead, then you'd better be very, very careful how you tell me,” the Doctor hissed.

Zoe scoffed. “You were right about one thing,” she mumbled. “He is an angry Scot,” she remarked as she marched past Clara and Missy through the sewers.

Missy stared up at the speakers with a small frown. “Listen to that,” she hummed. “The Doctor without hope.”

Zoe stopped walking and turned with her arms wrapped around herself to furrow her brows at Missy.

“Who’s going to tell me?!” the Doctor hollered over the speakers. “Who’s going to go first?!”

“Nobody is safe now,” Missy murmured.

“All the power Davros had is mine!” the Doctor yelled. “Everything he had, I have. So, who’s going to tell me that Clara Oswald is dead?” 

“He’ll burn everything,” Missy muttered with wide eyes. “Us too,” she said, glancing between the two women.

“Would he?” Zoe frowned. 

“If he thinks Clara is dead and the Daleks keep telling him that,” Missy nodded. “He doesn’t often think like the Doctor you know when he loses someone important to him. _Especially_ his companions,” she hummed before continuing to march through the sewers.

Missy walked ahead of them once again while Zoe hung back and narrowed her eyes at the Time Lady. “So, the Doctor has a dark side is what you’re telling me?”

“Oh, more than you know yet, darling,” Missy laughed. “As far as I remember it takes you a while to find out because you’re far too nice about figuring out people’s secrets but you’ll know one day and then the firework show will begin.”

“Well, of course, I’m nice about people telling me their secrets,” Zoe huffed. “I’m assuming you know everything about me like everyone I’ve met so far seems to so you know what I went through with my mum.”

“Oh, darling, that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the secrets you’re going to collect,” Missy hummed. “But yes I know all of them.”

“Figures,” Zoe scoffed. “It’s not that much fun meeting people for the first time and finding they know your entire life story.”

“And it’s only just begun for you,” Missy nodded. “Don’t worry, my love, you’ll get used to it. Eventually, you’ll be the one knowing everything about people who know absolutely nothing about you.”

Zoe groaned and rolled her eyes. “I hate time travel,” she murmured.

“Well, there are fun bits,” Missy insisted. “After all, nothing will beat the thrill when you kill your first Dalek,” she smiled. “I remember you telling me the story like it was yesterday. The thrill you had jamming that stick into its eyestalk?” Missy did a chef’s kiss as she beamed down at the girl. “Marvelous, darling.”

Zoe snorted and shook her head aimlessly at the mad Time Lady. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Missy watched her for a moment and sighed softly. “Oh, I so wish I could be there to watch as you go from this girl into the woman in that battle by my side instead of just hearing the stories,” she hummed. “It would be the perfect Christmas present.”

Zoe smiled warily and rolled her eyes. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re positively mad?”

Missy nodded adamantly. “You, darling. Quite a few times though it is a treat to hear the first time,” she smiled. “And the Doctor of course but I don’t count it when someone equally as mad makes the comment.”

Zoe was about to ask how the Doctor could be as mad as her when Missy suddenly froze and her mouth dropped open. Her eyes fixed on something in the distance and as she stared at whatever it was, her fingers wrapped around Zoe’s arm and she slowly moved the girl behind her. 

“Wha-what's happening?”

“Nothing you need to worry yourself over, darling. Clara!” Missy called over her shoulder.

Clara walked up to Missy’s side and furrowed her brows at something past where Missy was looking. “What is that? A lift?” She asked, pointing at whatever it was.

Zoe frowned and peered around Missy to see a pair of doors that certainly had the look of a lift. Missy followed their line of sight. “What?” She narrowed her eyes. “Never mind the lift,” she shook her head. “See that thing on the wall?” She implored, pointing towards something not too far in the distance.

Zoe scooted so she could at least catch a glimpse of what it was and she frowned at the sight. It looked like a silver metal car wheel with an airbag in the center that poked out just a bit. 

Clara peered right into the center of it and seemed confused. “What about it?”

“Take a look,” Missy nodded to her, keeping a steady grip on Zoe so the girl stayed behind her. 

“What is it?” Clara asked.

Rather than answer, Missy just continued to nod her on. “Closer.”

Clara rolled her eyes and turned back to Missy. “What am I even looking for?”

“Nothing,” Missy smirked. “I’m giving it a good look at you.”

Clara jumped and all of a sudden a Dalek voice screeched out through the sewers. “Intruder alert! Intruder alert!”

Zoe jumped up and tried to run to tear Clara away from the Dalek camera but before she could Missy latched onto her arm and stopped her. “Best not, darling,” she shook her head. “You may not know the Daleks but they know you. They can scan you and uncover that Time Lord DNA on you and they don’t think too favorably of you.”

“But, Clara-!” Zoe cried, trying to pull out of Missy’s grasp to reach Clara who was beginning to panic.

“Oh, you’ve still got that humanity,” Missy moaned, rolling her eyes at the girl. “Here.” She pulled out a pair of handcuffs and Zoe’s mouth dropped, thinking she was going to handcuff her so she couldn’t get to Clara. 

Instead, Missy dragged Clara back to the camera.

“Why the hell did you do that?!” Clara exclaimed.

“Ever ring a doorbell and run away?” Missy grinned.

“Humanoid detected in lower level,” the Dalek camera announced.

“Not this time,” Missy sighed. She whipped out the handcuffs and chained Clara to the camera unit.

“Missy!” Zoe shrieked.

“Dalek to Lower Level Thirteen.”

“What the hell did you do that for?!” Clara cried, yanking her arm against the handcuffs.

“We need to trap and kill a Dalek,” Missy hummed, plucking her brooch off her shirt. “You're the bait, I'm the hook.” She held up the brooch so Zoe and Clara could see. “Dark star alloy. Goes through armor plating like a knife through people.”

“Are we seriously about to bet our lives on a brooch killing the Dalek before it kills us?” Zoe frowned.

“Trust the plan, darling,” Missy smiled. “Daleks aren’t the brightest lot when it comes to expecting attacks because the arrogant buggers always assume they outmatch everybody else.”

Clara rolled her eyes and yanked at her handcuffs so hard Zoe worried the camera unit itself might come down. “Missy. Missy,” she hissed. “Missy, uncuff me now!”

“It's pretty, though, isn't it?” Missy smiled, holding the brooch up and ignoring Clara. “Got it in the olden days on Gallifrey. The Doctor gave it to me when my daughter-.”

She was cut off by the sound of the lift approaching. She jumped and spun around as the doors began to slide open. Missy scurried into a side corridor and wrapped an arm around Zoe to stop her from running to Clara to protect her. 

“Keep it talking,” Missy instructed Clara. “We need to draw it out of the lift.”

“You can't kill a Dalek with a brooch,” Clara practically wept.

“Yes, you can.”

“Clara, just yank off the camera unit and-!” Missy placed her hand over Zoe’s mouth before she could keep talking and get herself killed.

Zoe shot a glare at Missy but didn’t try to fight as one of Missy’s arms was wrapped around Zoe’s waist holding her back from running out while the other hand was over her mouth to stop her from screaming. She didn’t have much of a choice but to stay put or get them all killed.

“Humanoid detected,” the Dalek announced as it headed forward. It was bronze and Zoe furrowed her brows at it. At first sight, it didn’t seem all that threatening but a small voice in the back of her head practically screamed that she shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Some of the smartest people in the world had been killed by underestimating how something can kill them. She didn’t doubt that if she dismissed the Daleks as thimbles on wheels they would kill her before she even had a chance to admit she was wrong. She was no fool. She had seen movies and read plenty of books where good people are killed because they slip up and when they thought they were safe they end up getting killed. “Remain still. Do not move. Scan in progress. Humanoid unauthorized in restricted area.”

The Dalek trundled up to Clara and she stared at it with wide eyes and clear terror that made Zoe sure that she shouldn’t assume these Daleks couldn’t be dangerous just because they appeared harmless.

“Sterilization proceeding,” the Dalek announced.

Before the Dalek could even get the chance, Missy ran up and used the brooch to poke a hole inside the Dalek. “Hey, you!” Missy cried, poking another hole into the Dalek. “Guess what? I just put a hole in you!” She stuck the small orbs or globes on the Dalek. Steam hissed out through every hole she made in the Dalek. “And another and another. And another!” She exclaimed as she continued to prick holes in the Dalek.

“What are you doing?!” Clara snapped, pulling against the handcuffs once again.

“Murdering a Dalek,” Missy smirked while she pricked the Dalek. “I'm a Time Lady, it's our golf.”

“Damage levels insignificant,” the Dalek announced.

“Oh?” Missy implored with a raised brow. “I think you're forgetting you're surrounded by a bunch of very old, very angry Daleks.” 

It was then that Zoe noticed the brown sludge moving past her towards the Dalek. She wanted to puke knowing those were decaying Daleks themselves and they were high enough above ground that she could feel bits of them slipping into her combat boots before slithering out.

If she kept the contents of her stomach in her stomach for the rest of this trip she decided she needed to give herself a proper congratulations.

The decaying Daleks screeched as they slid through the holes Missy had made into the bronze Dalek’s armor. “You just got yourself a puncture in a bad neighborhood,” Missy told the Dalek in a Southern American accent with her hands on her hips. “Meet the locals? All blind and squelchy and out of their tiny minds, but they can still smell! Nobody hates like a Dalek. Here they come! I think they want to steal your motor!”

The decaying Daleks all moved around the bottom of the bronze Dalek and in through its armor to the point where the eyestalk with the blue light on the end became flooded with brown sludge- or rather Dalek bodies.

“Emergency! Emergency!” the Dalek cried. “My vision is impaired!”

The brown sludge began flooding the Dalek as it leaked out of its grill and completely blinded it. 

“Exterminate! Exterminate!” the Dalek screamed, starting to shoot out wildly as it spun to try and get rid of the other Daleks.

“Oh, here comes the older generation!” Missy laughed. She fished the key out of her waistcoat and tossed it to Zoe, nodding to the still cuffed Clara shying away from all the mess.

Zoe nodded in return and without a moment of hesitation despite her earlier nausea, she ran through the liquid Daleks and quickly uncuffed Clara.

Missy ran up behind them and tapped Zoe on her back. She nodded down the corridor and Zoe followed her lead. 

The Dalek was firing completely blind at absolutely everything, including the Daleks in the walls, as it spun around trying to shake the older Daleks out of its armor.

“These young folks today are so tetchy!” Missy exclaimed with a laugh.

The Dalek continued to fire everywhere it could. “Emergency! Emergency!” It screamed.

Missy suddenly threw Zoe up against the wall and covered her with her body while Clara cowered behind a corner right as there was a loud and worrying explosion through the corridors. 

“Wheee!” Missy beamed, blocking Zoe entirely from the blast while Clara and Zoe screamed.

Once it seemed to be over, Missy slowly moved away from Zoe and Zoe glanced down the corridor taking slow but deep breaths. “Alright, so the Dalek is dead, what now?” She wondered.

“Yeah,” Clara huffed. “Were you just setting me out as bait for a laugh or?”

Missy smirked. “Well, allow me to show you,” Missy hummed. She spun around and marched back to the Dalek. She glanced back at the two women who shared a look of utter confusion and winked before flipping up the head of the Dalek where the eyestalk was. She took a deep breath and rolled up her sleeves before reaching in and digging for something. Zoe narrowed her eyes at the Time Lady just in time to see the woman scoop out what looked to be a pile of brown guts and tossed it on the floor.

Zoe winced. That was the Dalek, wasn’t it? Oh, she was never going to get that image out of her head.

Missy’s eyes flickered to Clara and with a smirk, she nodded to the now empty armor. “Get in.”

Clara’s face fell. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Come on, Clara,” Missy moaned. “Get over your little squeamish reservations and hop inside.”

“Why?!” Clara exclaimed, looking frantically between Missy and Zoe for some sort of hint this was a joke.

“We need a Dalek escort upstairs,” Missy shrugged.

Zoe winced. She didn’t want the idea of one of them hopping into that Dalek casing making sense but now that Missy mentioned a Dalek escort she suddenly realized that was going to be their only way in. It had been done in hundreds of movies. Someone on the side of the heroes pretends they’ve taken the heroes as prisoners so they can get into enemy territory without being killed or properly detained. If the enemies think the heroes are already their prisoners they don’t go sniffing about.

If they tried to go up through that lift without someone in the Dalek armor by their side Clara and Missy would likely be properly killed this time and Zoe would never see the future everyone kept excitedly telling her about.

“Why can’t you do it?” Clara frowned. “Or Zoe?” She proposed.

“I’ll admit, it’s disgusting but I wouldn’t mind doing it if we needed to,” Zoe shrugged. “I’ll do whatever we need to get up there, grab the Doctor, and get out of here alive,” she chuckled.

“I know you would darling and that’s what makes you so lovely but we need Clara to take the dive,” Missy hummed. “I’m a Time Lady and though you don’t know it, you're on the Dalek’s top ten hit list so they wouldn’t pass up a chance to drag you upstairs to Davros himself. Clara, on the other hand, they would kill without hesitation. She’s just a human.”

“Oi, didn’t they try to kill both of us up there?” Clara frowned. 

“Yes, but now we have Zoe,” Missy huffed waving to Zoe as if she were the answer to all their problems. “And be honest, dear, when it comes down to it, who do you think they’ll be happier to kill in an instant?”

Clara clenched her jaw and appeared to scramble for some sort of rebuttal or answer to Missy’s remark but her posture fell when she realized she had nothing. “Fine,” she sighed. “Should I just jump in?”

Missy frowned for a moment. “No, hold on.” She reached into the Dalek casing and neither Clara nor Zoe could see what she was doing but within a couple of seconds the front panels slid open and there was enough room for Clara to move inside.

Clara swallowed and squeezed her eyes shut. “Wish me luck,” she sighed.

“Good luck,” Zoe nodded, patting her kindly on the back. “If you need help or want out just let us know.”

Clara nodded numbly and Zoe worried that she may be too caught up in her distressing thoughts that she didn’t even hear her. Nevertheless, Clara headed inside and Missy leaned before her, picking up some wires and placing them on Clara’s temples.

“How am I supposed to make it go?” Clara frowned, glancing around the casing. “Are there pedals?”

“Telepathic control,” Missy answered. “Open wide.” Clara’s jaw dropped and Missy rolled her eyes. “I meant your skull. Never mind,” she huffed.

Zoe could see a small electric shock as the wires, or electrodes they seemed to me, connected and found their way into Clara’s mind.

“Ow!” Clara snapped.

“Shh, shh, now, don't worry,” Missy murmured as she fiddled with the wires a bit more.

Clara rolled her eyes. “Ow,” she mumbled like a putout child just told off for being upset.

“There's loads of nano-tech repairing any damage as the feed goes in,” Missy explained.

“What about when it comes out?” Clara wondered.

“Will she be safe?” Zoe frowned. 

“No idea,” Missy sighed. “Nobody knows,” she shrugged. “Anyway, to control the unit, you just have to think. Novel idea for you, but let's try it. Move forward,” she instructed.

“I don’t know how to,” Clara frowned, then gasped as the Dalek suddenly surged forward.

Missy beamed at her and Zoe clapped like a proud parent. “You see?” Missy prompted with a raised brow.

“Oh!” Clara giggled. “How did I do that?”

“It’s the telepathy, isn’t it?” Zoe assumed.

Missy smirked. “There’s the clever one,” she hummed. “Now, circle right,” she instructed Clara.

“I can’t,” Clara insisted right before she circled right.

“Circle left,” Missy nodded and Clara did just that. “There you go,” she smiled. “Alright, this won't hurt a bit,” she sighed as she moved forward and pressed a control inside the armor.

Clara’s eyes widened as the panels began moving to close in on her. “Hang on. No, Missy. No, no, no, no!”

Zoe ran up and shoved Missy to the side as Missy grinned like a perfect movie villain at Clara. “It’ll be alright, Clara, I’ll be right here you won’t be in trouble,” Zoe promised.

“I’m not ready,” Clara winced. “I don’t want to do this yet! No, no, no, please don't! Don't, don't, please!” She screamed right as the panels closed in on her completely.

Zoe grimaced as she peered at the girl. She felt her heart twist for Clara even though she hadn’t known her long. Sure she had only known Rose and Clara for half a day each but they had known her for far longer and for some reason that made Zoe consider them close friends right away. She trusted them and she felt for them. She didn’t want to see them hurt which meant putting Clara at risk in a Dalek’s armor was like a stab to the gut and if she knew another way out she would’ve taken it.

Zoe had seldom been afraid for her safety even when she was a kid. She feared for the safety of everyone she cared for and would risk her safety to protect others because she never thought much of her safety. Bones healed, cuts disappeared, and she always recovered. She learned that fact as a little girl and thus rarely worried whenever she got injured. She knew she’d get better. Rather, she worried about how other people would recover mentally and physically after anything that might put them in harm’s way.

If she had the chance she’d be in that Dalek casing instead of Clara. She’d recover. It was gross but she’d be able to handle it. She didn’t know how or if Clara could. She wasn’t in Clara’s mind, she couldn’t tell how the woman was coping.

“Are you alright, Clara?” Zoe worried, placing her hand on the Dalek armor as though that would comfort the woman inside.

“Fine, I think,” the Dalek voice responded.

Missy barked out a laugh at the new voice Clara owned and despite herself, Zoe rolled her eyes and smiled. There was no harm laughing at a voice after all.

“Okay,” Dalek-Clara remarked. “That’s a bit weird.”

Missy was beside herself as she laughed and nodded in agreement. “Just a bit,” she chuckled. 

“Missy, get on with it we don’t have all day to laugh over Dalek-Clara,” Zoe hummed, smirking at the Time Lady.

“Okay,” Missy sighed. “Alright. Shh,” she said, holding her finger to her lips before the eyestalk so Clara wouldn’t speak. “Say your name,” she instructed.

“Why?” Dalek-Clara wondered.

“Just-Just say it,” Missy huffed.

Zoe was certain Clara said her first name but all they heard was, “Dalek.” Zoe furrowed her brows. 

“Say it again,” Missy nodded.

“Dalek Dalek,” Dalek-Clara responded.

“Oh, that’s odd,” Zoe breathed, tiptoeing up to Missy’s side as Missy beamed at the Dalek and nodded.

“One more time,” Missy hummed.

“I am a Dalek! I am a Dalek! I am a Dalek! I am a Dalek!” Dalek-Clara screamed.

Missy roared with laughter and Zoe began to giggle right as the gun on the Dalek began firing wildly while Dalek-Clara spun around. Zoe yelped, jumping out of range of the gunfire and Missy gasped, running up to Dalek-Clara to try and calm her down.

“Whoa!” Missy exclaimed, pulling Dalek-Clara’s eyestalk back to her. “Just don't get emotional. Emotion fires the gun. Okay?” 

“I do not understand,” Dalek-Clara said.

“I think I do,” Zoe frowned, furrowing her brows as she thought. They said the Daleks could feel nothing but hate so if Clara was trying to shove other emotions through the Daleks would likely react with aggression. “Can they just not let emotion slip through?” She asked Missy. “Like she’s feeling panic but when they speak-?”

“Watch this, darling,” Missy nodded. “Say ‘I love you’. Those exact words. Don't ask me why, just say it,” she instructed Clara. 

“Exterminate,” Dalek-Clara said.

Zoe’s eyes grew as wide as saucers and Missy laughed as she watched the girl begin to understand. 

“Say, ‘you are different from me’,” Missy directed.

“Exterminate! Exterminate!” Dalek-Clara cried.

Zoe sucked in a sharp breath. “I think I’m getting this!” She exclaimed and Missy laughed delightfully.

“Okay, say, ‘Ex-ter-min-ate!’”

“Exterminate!” Dalek-Clara hollered.

Zoe and Missy looked at each other and broke down laughing meanwhile Clara just grew more panicked with her lack of understanding within the Dalek armor. “Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!”

The gun began firing off wildly and Missy and Zoe had to dodge the gunfire once again as she spun around within the Dalek, losing control of her emotions and thus the Dalek.

“Missy!” Zoe screeched, sliding just out of range of Dalek-Clara’s shots.

Missy took a deep breath and ran up to Clara to try and calm her down once again with an explanation. “Cybermen suppress emotion. Daleks channel it through a gun. That's why they keep yelling exterminate. It's how they reload,” she told the woman. “So, let's go and kill them. Come on.” Missy clicked her fingers and began marching down the corridor towards the lift with Dalek-Clara and Zoe following close behind.

“Clara, I know you’re afraid but remember how you said Daleks only feel hate?” Zoe implored with a raised brow.

“Yes,” Dalek-Clara said.

“Well, you know when you scare some people and they resort to anger and saying you’re wrong or something rubbish? That’s what this is. You’re trying to feel things like panic and worry and the Dalek systems don’t include that tidbit in. They meet it with violence. You can’t love, you kill people. That’s all this is. You feel things like sadness or love and the Dalek shoots.”

“How did you come to this conclusion?” Dalek-Clara wondered.

The lift dinged and Missy smirked at them. “In you pop, dearies,” Missy instructed, waving them into the lift. They headed inside and the door closed but they didn’t go anywhere. “Oh, Clara pop your sucker on that device over there.” She pointed towards a small panel on the right side of the doors. There was a half-circle on the wall and Clara moved the sucker attached to the Dalek beside its gun, on top of it. A small screen scanned through a bunch of numbers and letters Zoe didn’t recognize before there was a rough shift and they began moving. “Can’t let the lift move for just anybody,” Missy shrugged.

“Anyway,” Zoe sighed. “I figured it out because that’s how my dad is. I’m sort of the girl who does a bunch of super risky things, albeit for a good cause most of the time but that’s not how my father sees it. He’s a prick but I do see he gets scared for me and when he gets scared he lashes out. He once broke three glass cups. Now seeing as pretty much every emotion my father expresses is anger or hate it was a fairly easy connection.”

“Exterminate,” Dalek-Clara said.

Zoe snorted and Missy barked out laughing as Zoe started to roll with laughter. She knew Clara meant to say she was sorry or something genuinely sympathetic but the fact that what came out was a monotone robotic ‘exterminate’ was hilarious.

“Desist with the laughter,” Dalek-Clara commanded. “It is not necessary.”

Zoe held up a hand and clenched her ribs. “Hold on- I just-,” she gasped, falling into another fit of laughter.

“Desist! Desist!” Dalek-Clara shrieked.

“Alright!” Missy exclaimed. She sighed softly and grabbed Zoe’s wrist with the vortex manipulator. She flicked a few buttons and suddenly Zoe was left gasping for air. She flicked a few buttons again and Zoe was fine but glaring at her. “Anything to stop hearing that blasted voice,” she grumbled.

“Never, do that again,” Zoe hissed.

“Oh, well technically past me does it but seeing as it’s in your future,” Missy hummed as the lift came to a shuddering stop and she smirked at Zoe while the doors opened, “I do it again.” She winked at Zoe as she headed out of the lift.

Zoe rolled her eyes and followed, walking beside Dalek-Clara. 

“What has the female done?” Dalek-Clara asked.

“Well, that vortex manipulator is hard-wired into all her systems. It's the only way she could be so completely tied into the Doctor’s timeline. His blood isn’t running through her veins, of course, it’s fused into her flesh. However, the vortex manipulator was funnily enough- manipulated beyond just his DNA. That’s how she can stave off aging and dying in a flash like tiny little humans. She has Time Lord energy flowing through her. It’s in her circulatory systems, her respiratory systems, everything. Not enough to give her the ability to regenerate, but enough to lengthen her far beyond any ordinary human lifespan. All simply because that vortex manipulator has hooked itself into every bit of her body. It controls her, in a manner of speaking. Now before you ask, that doesn’t mean you can just shut all her systems down through the vortex manipulator. The person who gave her that wanted to keep her alive for something in her future. That’s why she can’t age. She can only die if time is changed and something kills her while she has that on.”

“So, the female must not die by the vortex manipulator?” Dalek-Clara implored.

“Exactly,” Missy nodded. “That’s the only reason the Doctor didn’t chop her bloody arm off trying to get it away from her the first time he saw it. He knew what it would do but he knew as long as she was in his timeline he could protect her and since the vortex manipulator wouldn’t kill her no harm no foul,” she smirked. “Nevertheless, someone could easily make her their plaything if they got their hands on the little secrets behind that thing.”

“Who knows?” Zoe asked.

“Besides myself?” Missy assumed and Zoe nodded. “Though Clara knows of it now only the Doctor and I know what buttons to press.”

“Why would I tell you though?” Zoe wondered. “No offense, but I don’t see myself being comfortable handing someone who takes pleasure in murdering the remote controls to my body.”

Missy spun around and smirked at Zoe. “One day that will change, darling,” she hummed.

She spun back around just in time to come face to face with a Dalek. They froze in the middle of the corridor. “Halt!” the Dalek hollered. “Report.”

Missy raised her hands in surrender and Zoe quickly followed suit. 

“Humanoid intruders found on lower levels,” Dalek-Clara announced and Zoe smirked. She was quite good under pressure.

“Why have the intruders not been exterminated?” the Dalek wondered and Clara fell silent. Okay, maybe not as good under pressure as Zoe thought. “Explain. Explain. Explain!” It screeched.

Missy rolled her eyes. “We’re prisoners of special significance. Scan us.”

There was a moment of silence as the Dalek scanned and Zoe winced. This Dalek knew more about her than she did and based on what Missy said she had to hope it didn’t exterminate her on the spot. “A Time Lord and the Daughter of Time?” the Dalek implored.

 _Daughter of Time?_ Zoe mouthed with a frown to Missy and she just shook her head. Not the place or time.

“Now that’s Time Lady, thank you,” Missy hummed, dropping her hands telling Zoe they were safe so she did the same. Missy leaned on the wall and smirked at the Dalek before them. “Some of us can afford the upgrade. Is it still the same old Supreme Dalek these days?” She wondered. “I fought him once on the slopes of the Never Vault. Time daughter herself fought it out with him once or twice,” she muttered. “Tell him the bitches are back.”

The Dalek was silent for a moment before it turned and silently bid them to follow it. 

“Should I even bother to ask?” Zoe murmured to Missy.

“Oh, don’t bother, darling,” Missy sighed. “The Doctor was always far better at helping you work out your timelines than me. I’m not even going to pretend to try anymore.”

“Oh, well, that’s lovely,” Zoe huffed.

Missy smirked at her. “Fair warning, darling I’m going to feign handing you over to the Daleks with Clara back there you just have to play along.”

Zoe considered her for a moment and nodded. “Okay, but if you’re lying and abandon me or Clara and save yourself be warned I will make your entire past a living hell.”

Missy snorted. “I have no doubt you will, darling. Don’t you worry your pretty little head. I would never leave you to the cold hands of the Daleks.”

Zoe eyed her for a second to make sure she wasn’t lying. Something in her told her she’d know if Missy lied to her. It was a strange gut instinct like how she knew neither Missy nor Clara were the Doctor. Part of her wondered if it was possible the vortex manipulator could give her some knowledge from her future but she knew that was mad. 

Then again, her life had taken a pretty strange turn recently so she wouldn’t say it was impossible.

With that, they turned and a door opened for them to walk into a white open room without about a dozen Daleks and a large red Dalek on top of a dais. Zoe could take ten guesses as to who the Supreme Dalek was.

“Oh, hello!” Missy exclaimed, putting on a show the moment she stepped inside the doors. “Look at you all, with your nice, shiny domes. Oh, I am loving this,” she hummed. She plopped down on the dais and tickled one of the orbs on the Supreme Dalek. “You’re my secret favorite,” she whispered to it. “Don’t tell the others.”

“You are enemies of the Daleks,” the Supreme Dalek proclaimed.

“Yes, well, anyone who's not a Dalek is an enemy of the Daleks, so that was an easy guess,” Missy huffed.

“Quite an egotistical way of going about life,” Zoe remarked. She had to steel her nerves being in a room with this many creatures actively wanting her dead because they knew what she had done in the future and didn’t like it. She was sure her future self wouldn’t be panicking and close to tears in a room full of Daleks, that girl had too much experience surviving them to be afraid.

“You will be exterminated,” Supreme Dalek announced.

“Please, please do, because I have been on my feet all day,” Missy begged, pushing herself up onto her feet to stand once again. “But before you get all exterminate-y, two things. One, I want to see Davros. Two, I have two lovely little gifts for you all, if you take me to him right now.”

“We do not negotiate,” Supreme Dalek said.

“Zoe Wilson and Clara Oswald. I brought you complete control of the Doctor, gift-wrapped and better, canned,” Missy snapped.

Zoe’s eyes widened and she pretended to be angry. “Missy!” Zoe hollered, lurching forward only to be blocked by a Dalek. “How dare you?!”

Daleks surrounded her quickly and backed her into a corner while she glared and clenched her jaw at them.

“We have Zoe Wilson, where is Clara Oswald?!” Dalek Supreme snapped. “You will tell us!” It ordered and Missy smirked, beginning to dance to their commands. “You will tell us! You will tell us-!”

They all suddenly stopped and froze. Missy and Zoe looked around with frowns while Dalek-Clara spun around.

“What is this?” Zoe breathed.

“I'm sorry. Was I, er, was I boring you?” Missy chuckled.

All of a sudden, golden energy began emanating off of the Daleks from what Zoe assumed were their heads. 

“No. No, no, no, no, Doctor. What have you done?” Missy gasped, her smile falling as she stumbled back a few steps.

Zoe shook her head. If something weird was happening she wasn’t going to allow herself to stay backed into that corner when the Daleks came to. She placed her hands on the Daleks’ heads and used the leverage to lift herself up and over a small gap between two Daleks. She hopped over and ran up to Missy.

“What is happening?” Dalek-Clara asked.

“I have to find the Doctor,” Missy murmured, her eyes continuing to flick around as she stumbled out of there.

“Exterminate!” Dalek-Clara screamed.

“Missy, what can I do?!” Zoe asked, running up to her side.

Missy took a deep breath and glanced around at the Daleks one last time. “Keep out of sight. I told you what they’d do if they saw you. See if all the Daleks are doing this but don’t let them see you.”

“Exterminate!” Dalek-Clara repeated.

“But what is this?” Zoe frowned.

Missy watched her carefully and sighed softly. “Regeneration energy,” she murmured and Zoe’s heart fell into her stomach.

“Oh, my-.”

“Exactly,” Missy nodded. “They’ll be out of it eventually so be sure to keep out of sight until then.”

Zoe nodded and ran out after her, completely forgetting about Clara and the fact that they needed to look after her, especially in the middle of something like this.

Zoe ran through the corridors watching as all the Daleks radiated regeneration energy and felt her stomach fill with rocks the more Daleks she spotted. A selfish part of her was happy she would likely be traveling back in time again and wouldn’t have to face these Daleks right after they get out.

Suddenly, the regeneration energy stopped and she froze in the middle of a corridor where a bunch of Daleks had their backs turned to her. 

They began to turn, praising Davros for the regeneration energy and a whole bunch of robotic squawking she didn’t care to listen to. 

She scrambled away before the Daleks could spin around and ducked against the wall as a few passed but they seemed to be quicker. She shrieked as the Dalek she had been avoiding rounded the corner just in time to see her.

“Humanoid intruder! Exterminate! Exterminate!” the Dalek hollered.

It fired several shots and Zoe ducked as she ran away from it and down the next corridor she could find. As she ran into the next corridor, the ground shook and she tumbled onto her feet. 

“Shit!” She yelped. She frantically rose to her feet thinking the Daleks would take advantage of the momentary weakness, but as she squinted around she spotted they were all stopped and seeming surprised by the shaking as well.

Zoe grinned. That was her moment. Zoe flew through the corridors as the ground began to chip and large cracks started to run up the walls. 

It was something in the sewers. Zoe skidded to a stop. The regeneration energy went to every Dalek she had seen, but did that mean it went to the Daleks alive in the sewers as well? A Cheshire Cat smile slid across her face as she realized. The Doctor was too smart for them it seemed. 

She started running again as ooze began pouring out of the walls and taking control of all the Daleks around her life she had seen the old Daleks do down in the sewers.

It seemed she didn’t even have to worry about facing these new Daleks at some point of another. Their cross ancestors would handle all of them for her.

Zoe leaped a few tips over some rivers of Dalek sludge pouring in through the floors and thanked every deity she could imagine that she was not currently on her hands and knees puking out her insides. She was running through liquid aliens. That would be enough to send someone hurling for weeks and she was certain once they got back to the Tardis she would use the chance to vomit as much as she could before she left.

If she didn’t get to the Tardis before she left she felt extremely bad for the next person she encountered and the shoes she would inevitably be puking on.

With a deep breath, she rounded the corner just in time to see an older man with a small black coat wielding a Dalek gun and aiming it at a bronze Dalek. Missy was hanging her head by his side and Zoe beamed as her heart soared through her chest.

It was him. Gray hair, furious eyebrows, and eyes that were a million years old. She’d know him anywhere.

Her eyes widened as she saw where the gun was pointed and she couldn’t hear any of their conversation over the screaming Daleks behind her and the crumbling of the building around her but she knew it couldn’t be good. 

Zoe took a deep breath. Missy was going to try to get the Doctor to kill Clara while she was in the Dalek shell and while Zoe had been hoping for a movie-esque reunion when she finally found the Doctor it seemed she’d have to settle for stopping him from killing their friend. “Doctor!” Zoe hollered, cupping her hands around her mouth so he could hear her better.

The Doctor turned with his crazy brows furrowed, but his face dropped when he spotted her.

She grinned wider than she remembered grinning for quite some time and quietly questioned why she should be so happy to see a man she barely knew once again but at that moment she couldn’t care less.

The Doctor dropped the gun and ran towards her and she raced to meet him with equal vigor. When they did meet, she leaped into his arms and they held onto each other as tightly as possible while the Doctor spun around so he could walk back to Missy and Dalek-Clara with her in his arms.

“Where are we?” He muttered softly in her ear and she smiled at the Scottish accent.

The Doctor dropped her to her feet so he could look at her properly and Zoe winced. “Quite early. Last trip was my first.”

The Doctor’s smile dropped and his gaze fell but she stopped him with a hand on his chest. “I assume it’s been quite a while since I’ve paid you a visit?” She implored with a smirk.

He grinned at her and she couldn’t help but notice the Doctor’s grin seemed to be just as beautiful in this old face as it was on the last. 

“You have no idea,” the Doctor sighed.

“Well, we can play catch up when the building’s not caving in on us, but for now something important: that Dalek,” Zoe sighed, pointing behind her at the bronze Dalek. “It’s Clara.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened. “Do you-Do you mean it killed Clara and is somehow now asking for mercy?”

Zoe rolled her eyes. “No, Clara is inside of that Dalek armor. The actual Dalek alien is dead. Missy had the idea of putting her inside so we could have a Dalek escort up here and I couldn’t think of any reason to say now,” she huffed. “You were about to kill Clara without even realizing.”

The Doctor’s gaze turned to stone as he clenched his jaw and he took her hand, marching back to where Dalek-Clara sat while Missy was wincing.

“Clara, if that is you and Zoe hasn’t got the wrong Dalek, think the word ‘open’,” he instructed. “It’ll open the casing for me to see.”

There was a moment of silence before the casing hissed open and Clara appeared with tears streaming down her face.

“Oh, Clara, I’m so sorry I didn’t come here faster!” Zoe cried. She collapsed to her knees and slowly helped Clara pull the electrodes off.

Meanwhile, the Doctor’s gaze somehow turned even more venomous when he picking up the Dalek gun once again and turned to Missy. “Missy,” he hissed. “Run.”

Clara winced as Zoe pulled roughly on one of the electrodes. “Sorry, sorry,” Zoe muttered as she grit her teeth. “That was bad. I figured I’d go quick like a bandaid.”

“It’s inside my mind, Zoe,” Clara groaned.

“Remembering that,” Zoe nodded. “I’ll go slower.”

“In a way, this is why I gave her to you in the first place,” Missy smirked while the Doctor glared at her. “To make you see. The friend inside the enemy, the enemy inside the friend,” she hummed.

“Got it!” Zoe exclaimed as she got one of the electrodes off. “Oh, no, no, don’t cry, it’s almost over,” she assured her. Clara began to shake and she looked to see silent tears streaming down the face of the brunette.

“Everyone's a bit of both. Everyone's a hybrid,” Missy said, raising a pointed brow at the Doctor as he sulked closer to her.

“It’s not that,” Clara shook her head. “I just,” she let out a shaky breath and hung her head. “Can we swear never to speak of this again?”

“Already done,” Zoe assured her with a grin.

Clara smiled sadly at her and let out a soft sob. Zoe didn’t know yet just how much Clara valued having Zoe in her life during travels with the Doctor. Despite how often Zoe jumped around the girl was Clara’s stability and sanity. She kept Clara from jumping ship and checking herself into some sort of clinic to recover from this maddening life. She also, on far more occasions than this, had kept her alive.

Clara owed her life to Zoe about a hundred times over.

“I said, run,” the Doctor snapped at Missy.

“It wasn't me who ran, Doctor,” Missy sighed as she spun away. “That was always you,” she muttered. “I’ll see you again, darling!” Missy called over her shoulder to Zoe.

Zoe rolled her eyes and peeled the last of the electrode off Clara. “Oh, finally,” Zoe gasped as it dropped. “That felt like I was doing bloody open-heart surgery.”

Clara smiled softly as the Doctor and Zoe helped her out of the casing. 

“C’mon,” the Doctor sighed, taking Zoe’s hand. “I’d like to get out of here before the building collapses ideally.”

The women laughed and they ran through the corridors together until they hit the control room once again where the ceiling was crumbling and a quarter of the Daleks had been taken over by the brown sludge flooding the room, aka their ancestors.

The ceiling collapsed with a loud explosion and the three of them skidded to a stop only momentarily. “Where was the Tardis?!” the Doctor exclaimed. “It was over there somewhere, wasn't it?” He frowned, waving the Dalek gun around wildly pointing to no place in particular.

“What is happening? Explain! Explain!” Dalek Supreme bellowed.

The trio ran through the maze of dying Daleks but the Doctor stopped for a moment to explain things to the doomed Dalek Supreme.

“Dalek Supreme, your sewers are revolting,” the Doctor beamed at him.

More rubble fell and Zoe skidded backward as some of the rocks tumbled before her.

“You will assist, or you will be exterminated!” Dalek Supreme commanded.

“Oh, well, go on, then,” the Doctor sighed and shrugged. “Exterminate away.”

“Doctor!” Clara snapped, turning to him with wide eyes.

“You’re joking, right?” Zoe frowned. “Please, tell me he’s joking,” she begged as she turned back to Clara.

The Daleks fired at them but the shots bounced off some invisible force field despite both Zoe and Clara jumping back from the shots.

“Oops, sorry,” the Doctor shrugged. “Tardis force field is still here. We get in, you don't,” he smirked.

Zoe snorted and felt an odd sense of importance wash over her at the statement.

“The Tardis has been destroyed,” Dalek Supreme stated.

“Ah, don't be silly, of course, it hasn't,” the Doctor scoffed. “It just redistributed itself for a moment. Hostile Action Dispersal System. I'll give it a quick blast from my sonic, and the real-time envelope will reassemble right here,” he hummed.

Clara glanced up at him with a small frown. “Doctor, you don’t have your screwdriver,” she reminded him.

Zoe turned to him with wide eyes. “You don’t?!” She exclaimed. “What happened?”

“Oh, yeah, I'm over screwdrivers,” the Doctor sighed. “They spoil the line of your jacket,” he shrugged. “These days, I'm all about wearable technology,” he beamed as he pulled on a pair of black sunglasses.

“No!” Clara laughed, shaking her head at him. “No,” she insisted. “Seriously?”

Zoe snorted and shook her head. “Well, if it gets the job done you could wear a sonic fedora for all I care,” she sighed and the Doctor laughed.

“Ah, somethings about you never change,” he hummed.

With the sunglasses on, particles across the control room began collecting and moving towards them growing bigger and bigger as they approached until they were clear pieces of the Tardis.

“What is happening?!” Dalek Supreme yelled.

“Oh, same old, same old. Just the Doctor, Zoe Wilson, and Clara Oswald back in the Tardis,” the Doctor chuckled.

The Tardis finished materializing around them and Zoe heard the Daleks fire shots that continued to bounce off the Tardis force field. The Doctor dropped his sunglasses onto the console and quickly pulled a lever to get them to dematerialize. 

As the Tardis wheezed, Zoe finally spun around to see the new interior of the Tardis.

“Oh, I like this,” Zoe beamed.

The lighting was much bluer as opposed to the yellow lighting in her last Doctor’s Tardis. It also wasn’t as crowded and grunge-esque. It was cleaner and even had a visible second floor. The edges of the console and room were much more polished metal and the round things were still very clearly on the walls besides hundreds of books on bookshelves on the second floor.

“Oh, right, first time with the new Tardis,” the Doctor smiled. “So, what do you think? Better than the ears?”

Zoe snorted. “The ears?” She implored with a raised brow.

“Yeah, you know…,” he trailed off and flapped his ears as though he were demonstrating what his past face looked like.

Zoe laughed and shook her head. “You’re one to talk, eyebrows,” she retorted and Clara barked out a laugh while the Doctor’s face fell. She quickly covered her mouth when he turned to glare at her.

“Oh, never mind,” the Doctor huffed. “Let’s go watch Skaro collapse in on itself,” he muttered.

“Oh, no Doctor,” Zoe pouted as the Doctor landed the Tardis and marched past them. “I was only joking the eyebrows aren’t even that bad!” She assured him as she followed him outside.

“Oh, now don’t lie to him,” Clara frowned.

Zoe snorted against her will and smacked Clara playfully as they headed out of the Tardis. 

Zoe and Clara walked up to stand on either side of the Doctor while he flipped a strange dial in his hands.

“No chance you're going to tell me what's in that confession dial, I suppose?” Clara assumed.

The Doctor sighed deeply and placed the confession dial in his pocket.

“That’s the confession dial?” Zoe frowned. “I’d have thought it would be bigger that thing is tiny.”

The Doctor smirked to himself and hung his head. “It’s bigger on the inside,” he murmured.

Zoe snorted and glanced up at him with a smile. “Let’s not make this a thing,” she sighed. “If it would have stopped you I would have sat and rambled on for years on how much bigger the Tardis was on the inside.”

“I’m sure you would’ve,” the Doctor hummed, glancing at Skaro as buildings began to crumble.

Zoe narrowed her eyes at him and frowned. “What is it? There’s something else you’re thinking about,” she noticed. “You have this look in your eye.”

The Doctor let out a deep breath and glanced at Clara. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t?” Clara asked.

“When you were in the Dalek, you made it say mercy... It shouldn't have understood the concept, it shouldn't have been able to say it. How did a tiny piece of mercy get into the DNA of the Daleks?” He wondered aimlessly glanced back at Skaro.

All of a sudden, his face fell, and clutching the Dalek gun, he bolted back into the Tardis. 

Clara and Zoe shared a look before running in after him.


	6. Her Majesty Queen Victoria

While the Doctor did whatever he had run back into the Tardis to do, Clara guided Zoe to her room. The same room she had never gotten the chance to see while she had been traveling with the last Doctor.

“Now, I think you said it usually looks a bit different and has different items in it depending on the Tardis but it’s always in the same place,” Clara explained.

“You’re a blessing, Clara,” Zoe chuckled.

Clara smiled kindly at her and swung the door open for her, hanging back in the corridor so Zoe could walk in herself.

Zoe nearly collapsed at the sight of the room. It was somehow everything she wished to make out of her room on Earth but never had the funds or time to create herself. 

The ceilings fell at the same height they did on the rest of the Tardis and the walls were white despite her countless dreams of painting her walls growing up. She suspected the Tardis knew her better than the passing fancies she had as a child because she found she liked the walls better unpainted. Especially seeing as the unpainted walls were covered with pictures and hangings to fill what she might have missed in the paint.

Along the wall to her left, there were three large pictures in frames of Paris, the woods near where she grew up, and a universe picture right between the other two.

She smiled softly. Her future self had decided to put her life story up on the walls. She had been born in Paris to her French mother and British father. She lived in France until she was three years old until her mother estranged her family and they moved to England. 

From there she grew up around Sydenham Hill where she went to the woods almost every chance she could get most time after her mother passed just to get some solitude away from her father. 

Finally, the last image was obvious. Her life now. Her entire world was no longer secluded to Paris or the woods near her home but rather the entire universe. She was still working out how to feel about that.

On the wall to her right, there were three paintings. One she spotted right away was a genuine Van Gogh painting, another appeared to be Monet, and the final was Salvador Dali. 

She walked up to the paintings and tiptoed around them carefully as though one wrong step might destroy them. These were three genuine paintings from painters she admired so greatly as a little girl, words couldn’t even begin to express how important they were to her. When she was ten-years-old Zoe had wanted nothing more than to become an artist but she struggled greatly in her art class because she couldn’t sketch or paint realistic images. She hated painting faces and anything that had way too much detail. Originally, she had kicked herself assuming that meant she couldn’t be a real artist, then she found those three artists and their paintings.

In the small space of wall available between the front door and the closet in the room, there was a path of polaroids of a single person with notes beneath each picture and various people surrounding the path of images. She turned with a small frown and narrowed her eyes at the layout.

The first picture she spotted was definitely of the last Doctor she had met and beside him were pictures of herself with Rose, Jack Harkness, and a man she couldn’t name. The foreign man had black skin, short hair, and a goofy look on his face in the photo. They each had their names scrawled beneath their photos and a brief description of them in what she recognized as her handwriting. The Doctor had _'ninth face, just after the war. This face explains what the war was. In search of healing. Short run 2007-2008.'_ Zoe shook her head aimlessly, she had no idea what the war meant, but she had a feeling her future self knew that and meant to assure her that she would figure it out with that Doctor. Silently, Zoe wondered if she even wanted to know because it obviously couldn't mean anything good. 

Underneath Rose's picture she had scrawled, ' _starts traveling with the Doctor at eighteen. Just turned nineteen by the time you meet her. Dating Mickey Smith but doesn't view it as monogamous. Beautiful friend to have. By his next face, she's like a sister.'_ Zoe smiled softly at that. She'd never had a close friend like her future self was describing Rose. She was always that awkward third friend between two best friends, not really needed but somehow there. It sounded like Rose could truly be the friend she'd always wished she'd had by her side. Next, there was Jack Harkness. Under his picture, she scribbled, ' _from the fifty-first century. He will suddenly stop traveling with the Doctor and the Doctor is the only person who can explain it, but he doesn't. Jack doesn't die. Around the time the ninth Doctor regenerates he becomes virtually immortal. The Doctor leaves him on Earth. **Jack only just explained this to me. I still don't fully understand it. The Doctor never tells us.**_ ' Zoe almost visibly winced at that message. Only one trip in she'd thought she could rely on the Doctor to fill in any gaps she might miss, but apparently, he was still guarded with certain things. Important things. She wasn't certain how she should feel about that, but it certainly made her uneasy. Finally, the man she didn't recognize was on the wall with a very short message beneath him. ' _Mickey Smith. Usually the same age as Rose, sometimes a year older. I never got his birthday only the month and year. He was Rose's boyfriend before she began traveling with the Doctor. He does not like the Doctor because Rose is more attached to him than Mickey. He never travels properly with the ninth Doctor, but you do see his face a few times so be on the lookout.'_ If Zoe was honest, she never would have guessed Rose had a boyfriend so she didn't quite blame Mickey for being upset with the Doctor for ruining that. Still, it was odd to see this picture of Mickey sticking his tongue out at her while laughing, completely at ease with her, and not know him.

Beneath the ninth Doctor and the pictures of all the people he traveled with, there was an image of a man with absolutely crazed hair in a blue suit and Converses with a smirk on his face. The picture the future Zoe had taken of him was while he was operating the Tardis and he looked as though he had just peered up to grin at her. Under his picture, he had, ' _tenth face. Much happier after healing done by ninth face. Sometimes wearing a long brown coat over the blue suit. Lengthier run, 2005-2009.'_

Beside this Doctor, there was an image of Rose again with much shorter hair than Zoe had seen her wearing while holding up a peace sign. There was no description under that picture and she smiled as future Zoe probably decided she hadn't needed one. After Rose, there was an image of Mickey with just a brief, ' _he travels with this Doctor a few times. Rose cries when he decides to leave.'_ After Mickey, there was a beautiful woman with black skin and dark hair pulled back. She wasn't looking at the camera but rather, staring up at the Statue of Liberty grinning. Her description read, ' _Martha Jones. She deserved better than the Doctor. I still visit her from time to time._ ' Zoe winced at that. It sounded horribly vague and while part of her wondered just how awful the Doctor could be, the other part knew she had already heard a preview in the sewers on Skaro. Finally, the last image tied to this Doctor was a woman with pale white skin and red hair, and a large grin as she looked at the camera. Zoe felt a chill run up her spine as the only description under the woman was her name. _Donna Noble._ Her future self hadn't even been capable of tagging a brief summary to help Zoe navigate. Just a name. It made her sick with worry wondering what could happen that was so awful her future self didn't even want to speak of the woman anymore?

After the tenth Doctor, there was a Doctor in a tweed brown suit and bright red bow tie. She was certain this Doctor had the brightest smile of them all for his tongue poked out as he beamed at the camera and he held up a peace sign. Beneath him, he had; ' _the eleventh Doctor. The most fun! This one has a special place in my heart. Not only does he figure out how to keep us from hopping around beyond our control, look for the picture of mum and you'll understand. Run, '2009-2014'._ Zoe furrowed her brows at the line imploring her to look for the picture of her mum. She had no idea what that meant but there were tons of pictures in that room and she knew she'd eventually reach it. Beside this Doctor, there were three images, one was of a pretty woman with pale skin and red hair leaning her head on the shoulder of a man with sandy hair. Their names were Amelia (Amy) Pond and Rory Williams and their description told her they were married which thoroughly surprised Zoe. She didn't think the Doctor would travel with a married could, but then again the description also said the Doctor met Amy when she was a little girl so maybe that had something to do with his attachment. After them, it was Clara Oswald and the description was completely imploring her to trust Clara Oswald no matter what, even if the Doctor claimed he shouldn't. She frowned, curious why she wouldn't trust Clara but shrugged as she moved down to the next Doctor.

This was the Doctor she was with tagged the twelfth Doctor, _2014-2017_ along with a notepad saying, _'I know you don't need much information because you're with him now. You've seen his best and worst emotions all at once._ ' Beside him, there were three images. One of Clara and the next was of a woman with black skin and gorgeous black hair laughing beside a bald pale man who seemed completely unamused. Their descriptions were _Bill Potts_ and _Nardole_. Bill had a brief description listing her as a very close friend, but Nardole had a warning in all caps _HE DOES NOT LIKE YOU._ Zoe winced at that. She was not looking forward to meeting this Nardole person.

After the twelfth Doctor, there was an image of the first female Doctor Zoe had ever seen, immediately intriguing her. She had short blonde hair and what looked like eighties clothes on as well as several piercings in her ears. The description was unfortunately brief with an apology written in. _Thirteenth Doctor._ _Run is from, 2017-2021. Sorry, this is so brief, she's quite a treat to travel with but I haven't had many trips with her while this is being written. I haven't even traveled to the end of her run yet, the dates are an approximation. Something is wrong with this stupid thing and it won't let me go past a certain date in the Doctor's timeline. I'm trying not to think the worst. I'm trying to get to a point where I can get into Torchwood and have Jack help me. I'll update this if I find anything._ Zoe squeezed her eyes shut. There was a big piece of her thinking once she got to her future self she would have things all figured out. She wouldn't be afraid of the things she faced and she wouldn't have to deal with so much personal confusion but it was not at all pleasing to see that she was facing difficulties far into her trips with the vortex manipulator. Beside the thirteenth Doctor, there were three images, one was of a man with black skin and extremely short hair labeled _Ryan Sinclair._ The next was a beautiful woman with brown skin and seemingly black hair labeled _Yasmin Khan._ The final image was of an older man labeled _Graham O'Brien_. There were no further descriptions on them, likely due to the difficulties her future self was facing.

Zoe let out a soft sigh and silently wished she had her mobile on her to take a picture but unfortunately she hadn’t had it on her when she put the vortex manipulator on. Even if she had she wasn’t even sure it would work traveling through all of time and space constantly.

Zoe spun around to get a look at the rest of the room instead of spending all her time locked into the images of the Doctor and his companions. 

On the final wall opposite to the door was her bed. Fairy lights were dangling around it switched off but Zoe could see that the fairy lights at the front of the bed were small and thin while the ones at the end of the bed were like small globes. The fairy lights were tangled around thin white sheets hanging from the four corners of the bed and making the bed seem like a canopy bed. At the end of the bed, there was a small white headboard and there was a small picture frame on the headboard on Zoe’s left while a small collection of stuffed animals were in the corner on the right side. 

Zoe tiptoed up to the headboard and picked up the picture slowly. It had a simple black frame and Zoe felt her heart leap into her throat. It was a picture of her mother in the hospital but it wasn’t of her during the radiation or treatments like all the pictures she remembered her father showing her. The picture was of her mother holding her the day Zoe had been born. 

Zoe let out a small choked sob as she looked into her mother’s eyes and saw the sheer happiness radiating from the woman as Zoe laid asleep in her arms. 

She had never seen that picture before. Zoe sunk back on her heels as she stared at every inch of the picture so long she may very well have started to ruin her eyesight given how close she was holding the picture to her face.

Her heart soared into her throat as she spotted a reflection in one of the glasses in the hospital beside her mother. She narrowed her eyes at it and somehow managed to bring the picture closer to her eyes as she tried to make it out. 

Whoever was in the picture was holding a camera and she could only make out their hair and the top of their clothing but on that very clothing she spotted something her father would never be caught dead in: a bow tie. Her heart pounding out an uneven beat in her ears, she raced back to the spotter’s guide of the Doctor and ran through the images until she spotted the eleventh Doctor on the list beaming away in a brown coat and bow tie. 

Zoe lifted the picture beside him and sure enough, it was a match.

The Doctor got her proper pictures of her mother. 

She let out a choked sob, grinning at the Doctor on her wall and the picture in her hand. That was what she meant when she implored herself to look for the picture of mum.

Slowly, she shuffled back to the bed and placed the picture back on the headboard where it had been. 

She smiled at the small collection of stuffed animals. The animals included; Winnie the Pooh, Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, and a small pitbull. 

On the wall just above the headboard but below where the white sheet hung low, there was a small brown arrow hanging and pointing to the right of the room. Beneath the arrow, there was a short row of polaroids. 

In the polaroids from left to right; Zoe was with Rose by the Egyptian pyramids, Rose was buried up to her neck in red sand and laughing, Zoe was with the red-haired woman and a woman with short curly blonde hair who had her back turned, Zoe was donning the red bow tie she had seen on the Doctor and making a funny face, Zoe was with Clara on top of the Eiffel Tower, and finally a picture of the only female Doctor she had seen trying to block the camera and laughing. 

Zoe smiled softly and glanced down at the bed. It was incredibly comfortable with a large grey cushion on top of the mattress with large dark pillows and small throw pillows on the bed that had images of the universe on them.

She turned away and glimpsed around the room. It seemed she was splattered across this entire room with splinters of who she was now and the entirety of who she would be. 

Zoe longed to become this woman. The woman with plenty of friends who could feel at ease in this life and happy. She was living what Zoe had always dreamed of and Zoe’s gut twisted knowing that was all her, she just hadn’t gotten there yet.

With a sigh, Zoe shuffled towards the closet. She should get dressed instead of just staring helplessly at her future for the rest of her time there. She shoved the closet door open and fingered through the clothes for a while before getting dressed. She chose a white leather jacket and a black tank top, remembering Jack’s words about her appearing as though she had just crawled out of bed and hating that she had traveled to two places so far and run around in the old worn down clothes she lounged in. It felt as though she had run around time and space in what was essentially her nightie. 

She also pulled on a new pair of boots because she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to take it running around and accidentally fighting her foot a certain way only to discover the Dalek guts were still in her boots. She could very well end up vomiting wherever she stood and just based on how many times they’ve had to run in two adventures she was certain that wasn’t a good plan.

Once she was satisfied she ran a comb through her dark brown hair and headed out. She luckily wasn’t tired yet so she didn’t have to try and sleep but she wondered absentmindedly what would happen when she did get tired and went to sleep. Could she teleport while she was unconscious or would the burning wake her up beforehand?

Zoe shook her head as she headed back to the console room where the Doctor was fiddling with the controls alone.

Clara had likely headed back to her room.

“How long has it been?” Zoe wondered.

The Doctor sighed softly and hung his head. “A year,” he mumbled. “I was beginning to think you were purposefully avoiding me.”

“Have you been traveling with Clara all that time?” Zoe asked, heading down the steps to stand by his side.

“Sometimes,” the Doctor muttered, his gaze fixed on the controls rather than her.

Zoe rolled her eyes. “You don’t seem like you’d be good on your own, Doctor,” Zoe remarked. “And I know the sort because I’m no good on my own. If you can’t travel with Clara or me find someone. Anyone,” she insisted.

“Oh, you would have me traveling around time and space with some daft old nutter, wouldn't you?” the Doctor smirked, looking up to finally meet her eyes.

Zoe smiled softly. “If that nutter keeps you from doing what I heard back on Skaro then so be it,” she shrugged. “I understand you need to be that person from time to time seeing as you are traveling through all of time and space and some people are arses but it’s not a good look and I can see in your eyes it hurts you to be that person. I could see it every second you had that Dalek gun in your hands.”

The Doctor sighed and hung his head. “I thought Clara was dead, I-.”

“And you were going to burn all of Skaro because of it?” Zoe frowned. “Missy said as much. I didn’t want to believe her but now I can see it in you and that worries me.”

The Doctor furrowed his brows and glanced back at her. “You’re not afraid? I thought the first time I acted like this you said-.”

“I’m sure by this point I’ve told you about my father so you know well enough I have too much experience with this sort of anger to be afraid. My father once smashed a TV in front of me. Albeit, he never burned a planet but I feel like if he were in your shoes Skaro would no longer exist,” Zoe hummed. “I’m not afraid of that sort of reaction anymore I’ve lived with it for the past six years. I’m worried about it. I don’t want you to spend too much time by yourself and risk falling into that man with nobody to help you climb back out.”

The Doctor chuckled softly. “You always had a way of worrying about me even if it wasn’t necessary.”

“I may still be early in my trips, Doctor, but worrying about you seems to be a full-time job. You may be as old as the stars themselves but none of that matters if you get in your head and react with anger and a convoluted sense of justice when the universe doesn’t help you out a bit.”

“I never said the universe had to help me out,” the Doctor huffed. “I just want the universe to be fair just once.”

“You know far better than I do that’s not how it works. You work to be a good man and help people where you go. Not only that but you get to see the most beautiful sights in every universe,” Zoe sighed. “Things may feel unfair but don’t let that overshadow all the wonder you have at your fingertips and make you become that other person all the time.”

The Doctor glanced down at her and Zoe felt her heart twist for the man. She could see far more age weighing down this Doctor’s face as opposed to the last Doctor she had left. He had seen more loss and suffered far greater devastation than the ninth Doctor. He knew the cost of being the hero and it wasn’t one he wanted to live with.

Zoe took a deep breath and stepped up to him, placing a gentle hand on his cheek. He melted into the touch and closed his eyes while she placed her other hand on his chest. “Nobody said this was easy. Nobody promised a golden reward at the end of the day but that doesn’t mean you stop. The fact that this is so hard to do is what makes you so bloody brilliant. You take the happy moments when they come because even despite all the great things you do, life is finding happiness in all the little moments.”

The Doctor’s eyes slowly opened and he smirked at her. “How are you so clever so early on?”

Zoe grinned at him. “I was born this way,” she shrugged. 

The Doctor chuckled and pulled her into a tight hug which both of them relaxed into as if they were meant to be holding onto each other. Zoe thought it was ridiculous, it felt like some cheesy romance novel, yet that was the only way she could explain how perfect that hug felt.

However, the ease she felt was quickly pulled away when she felt a prick on her wrist.

She pulled out of his arms with a small frown and his face fell when he spotted her rubbing the skin around her vortex manipulator. She glanced up and winced at his reaction. 

“I don’t like it any more than you,” Zoe murmured.

“I just wish I had more time,” the Doctor muttered.

Zoe smiled at him even as her arm began to feel like it was being set on fire. “I can’t promise anything but I hope for both our sakes I come back soon.”

The Doctor sighed and nodded. “I do too.”

Zoe grit her teeth and clenched her arm as the fire began to spread and the blue light started flickering rapidly until the Doctor’s sorrowful face was snapped away from her once again.

When she landed it was on her face. She groaned as she sat up and spotted the old stone she had fallen onto. There were even bits of hay now in her hair from the floor.

Lovely.

“Zoe?!” A London accent she knew cried and Zoe’s heart stopped beating in her chest.

Zoe looked up and spotted Rose sitting right in front of her with short blonde hair and wide eyes. She was in chains but Zoe didn’t even realize as she beamed at the girl and ran up to pull her into a bone-crushing hug.

“Oh, I bloody missed your face and it’s only been one trip since I’ve seen you!” Zoe cried.

Rose chuckled lightly and slowly pulled away and it was at that moment Zoe noticed the clattering of the chains.

“Oh, bloody hell,” Zoe moaned. She glanced around the room and dissected her surroundings.

They were in what appeared to be some sort of basement. Rose was chained up with a row of people behind her. Based on the clothing they all appeared to be servants to whatever land they were on and she could easily guess they were back in time once again.

Maybe, the 1800s judging by the look of the room and the clothing on the servants. She didn’t exactly have a well enough idea of history to tell when in the 1800s and for all she knew she could be off by a hundred years and this could be the 1700s. Regardless, she knew they weren’t anywhere past the 19th century. 

She eyed the room and found it crammed with all sorts of rubbish lining the walls but her face fell when she spotted a cage right across from all of them. 

Inside the cage, there was a man with skin so pale it could have been see-through. He wore black robes even around his head though Zoe could see tufts of dark hair poking out from under the hood of the robe. He sat on a bale of hay seeming very comfortable but what alarmed her was not the man’s comfort in the cage but rather his eyes.

They were completely black.

Zoe felt her heart skip several beats and she turned to Rose with quite erratic breathing. “Two questions,” she sighed. “Where the hell is the Doctor and what the hell is that because it’s not human, whatever it is.”

“The Doctor’s upstairs and the servants said something about a-a,” Rose frowned and glanced back at them.

“A werewolf, miss!” One of the women exclaimed in a Scottish accent.

“Oh, are we in Scotland?” Zoe grinned. “I’ve never been to Scotland,” she remarked. She winced as her eyes wandered up to all the petrified servants. “Right, sorry, time, and a place.” She cleared her throat. “Does the Doctor know you’re here?”

“If the Doctor knew I was here do you think I’d be here?” Rose frowned.

“I dunno, I don’t pretend to understand his plans,” Zoe scoffed and Rose shrugged. The brunette had a point. “Alright, so werewolf that somehow exists, Doctor doesn’t know where we are,” she listed. “Couldn’t I just go and get him?” She implored. “After all, I’m not chained up.”

“That’d be a great plan if I didn’t hear them lock the door when they tossed us in here,” Rose remarked and Zoe winced.

“Alright,” Zoe sighed. “Then there is only one option, isn’t there?”

“Which is?” Rose frowned.

Zoe took a deep breath and rose to her feet, moving closer to the man in the cage and sitting only a few feet from him.

“I’d urge you not to sit so close, miss,” one of the maids chained up cried.

“Don’t enrage him, child,” a bald man sitting beside the maid instructed.

Zoe took a shaky breath. The Doctor would be able to do this if he were there. Besides, she wasn’t the one in serious trouble there. She wasn’t in chains. If she looked harder or fought hard enough she could probably get the door open and run out. 

No, she had to protect Rose and these terrified people in chains. Rose was her friend however short their friendship might have been and she was loyal to a fault, especially when her friends were in danger. 

Zoe sighed softly and looked up at the man. She could do this. She had to do this. Not for herself but for Rose. “Who are you?” She asked. “Where are you from? I can tell right by your eyes that you’re not from Earth so where is it?”

“Oh,” the man hummed, a Scottish accent on his tongue as well. They were definitely in Scotland. “Intelligence.”

“Where are you from?” Zoe insisted.

“This body?” the man implored with a raised brow. “Ten miles away. A weakling, heartsick boy, stolen away at night by the brethren for my cultivation. I carved out his soul and sat in his heart.”

Zoe winced and swallowed harshly. Not a pretty picture so soon after the Dalek sewers but she could swallow down the bile rising in her throat for her friend.

“Alright,” she sighed. “So the body’s human,” she conceded. “But what about the individual inside it?”

The man let out a shaky breath and smiled as though she had mentioned Christmas morning to a small child. “So far from home.”

“If you want to get back home, we can help,” Rose told the man, scooting forward while he just grinned like he was hiding some great secret.

“Why would I leave this place?” He wondered. “A world of industry, of workforce and warfare. I could turn it to such purpose,” he hummed.

Zoe furrowed her brows at the man. What would the Doctor ask? How would the Doctor approach this alien and try to figure out what it planned to do? How would the Doctor save the day? “How would you do that?” Zoe asked, trying to keep the nerves out of her voice and resign them to her hands, pulling the sleeves of her jacket over to cover them before Rose, or worse, the man could see them.

“I would migrate to the Holy Monarch,” the man answered.

“You mean Queen Victoria?” Rose implored and Zoe’s eyes widened. 

So they were in the 1800s. Zoe couldn’t remember just how long Queen Victoria reigned. All she knew was that Queen Victoria survived a year after the next century arrived, so 1901. It occurred to her that they could be in the year 1900, but her knowledge of history was too basic to even kid herself into thinking that she could work out when in time they were just sitting there.

“With one bite, I would pass into her blood, and then it begins,” he hissed. “The Empire of the Wolf,” he proclaimed. He exhaled deeply through his teeth like Darth Vader and she winced. “Many questions,” he remarked. Then, suddenly, he lurched forward and made everyone jump with Rose and Zoe letting out sharp screams as they sat so close to him. “Look,” the man said, narrowing his eyes at Zoe and nodding to her. “Inside your eyes. You've seen it too.”

“Seen what?” Zoe frowned, gooseflesh trailing across her skin as she trembled before the man.

“The Wolf. There is something of the Wolf about you.”

Zoe furrowed her brows and glanced back at Rose hoping she would offer some answer but the blonde’s gaze was set firmly on the stone floor with wide eyes betraying the fact that Zoe was likely not supposed to know anything about that yet.

Zoe shook her head and turned back to the man. “I don’t know what you mean,” she confessed.

The man let out a satisfied breath and Zoe grimaced. “You burnt like the sun, but all I require is the moon,” he growled and Zoe slid backward quite a bit at the sound.

It wasn’t because she was afraid rather she felt entirely creeped out by the man, or whatever identity the alien was inside the man. He was speaking to her with a strange tone that made her feel uneasy in her skin and want nothing more than to curl away from his gaze. 

Normally when she was afraid she’d be desperate to run for the hills but this man was making her feel like she wanted to curl up in a ball and retch until the sound of his voice was purged from her mind.

Suddenly, there was a loud slam and Zoe jumped as the cellar doors were flung open and moonlight streamed into the room. 

Zoe's eyes grew wide and she climbed to her feet as she backed away keeping her eyes trained on the alien. “Oh, no,” she breathed.

All the servants fell to their knees and began praying.

“Moonlight,” the man breathed and an unnatural wind swept through the cellar as he began stripping.

“Rose,” Zoe murmured, backing away until she hit a wall right beside Rose. “I hope you have a plan because I have no idea what to do and frankly I’m more than a bit terrified.”

Rose glanced around and winced at the sight of the servants all praying or sobbing rather than trying to find a way out. She slowly rose to her feet and narrowed her eyes at the group. “All of you! Stop looking at it!” She snapped and turned to a woman with a white bonnet behind her. “Flora, don't look. Listen to me. Grab hold of the chain and pull! Come on! With me! Pull!” She commanded all of them.

Zoe watched Rose stir everyone into action and smiled softly. The girl was terrified but still fighting for her life and she didn’t want to freeze right when she was needed most. 

The man began crying out in pain as his bones started cracking and she saw both his shoulders and face transforming into that of the wolf.

“I said pull!” Rose hollered at all the people still kneeling and weeping. “Stop your whining and listen to me! All of you! And that means you, your Ladyship,” she ordered a woman in the middle of the group staring at the wolf with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Now come on, pull!”

Zoe took a deep breath as she watched Rose. She had to help. She prided herself on being brave for her friends when they couldn’t. She had been too scared to think of a plan but now that Rose had a plan she at least had to try and help her speed up the process of them yanking at their chains against the hook they were locked into.

She glanced around the room while the man screamed in pain and his bones broke and reformed into the bone structure of the wolf. Eventually, she spotted a small stone hammer leaned up against the barrels behind the wolf’s cage. 

Zoe winced against the fact that she would have to be near the wolf but steeling herself, she took a deep breath and scurried past the wolf screaming as she did so as though she were running straight through a fire. She grabbed the hammer and then screamed as she ran past the wolf’s cage once again though her gut told her that even if the wolf noticed her he was far too busy breaking his bones into new positions to care.

She sighed deeply and marched over to the hook the group was changed to. The young woman in the white bonnet’s hands were far too close to the hook for Zoe to smash the hammer without risk of breaking her hands.

“Flora, was it?” Zoe implored, raising a brow at the woman.

She sniffled and merely nodded.

“I’m going to need you to scoot your hands back just a few inches,” Zoe instructed, gently brushing her hands as she indicated where to move them.

“Listen to her, Flora,” Rose instructed. “She knows what she’s doing.”

Flora nodded once more and did as Zoe told her. Zoe took a deep breath and slammed the hammer into the wall where the hook holding their chains was. It wasn’t a clean break and Zoe cursed under her breath. 

“Keep pulling on the other hook!” Rose ordered. “Just because she’s helping doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods!”

The servants spun around and began pulling at the hook on the other side of the wall where they had also been chained up. 

Meanwhile, in the cage, the werewolf was beginning to grow his fur and his hands were morphing into a wolf’s large paws containing sharp claws on the end.

Zoe slammed the hammer into the hook one more time and it came undone making the lot of them stumble a few steps backward.

Zoe glanced back at the wolf and winced. He seemed completely transformed though his paws were a bit pale and he was examining them as if he noticed that fact for himself.

“One, two, three, pull!” Rose hollered at the servants. “One, two, three, pull!”

The wolf snarled in his cage and began slashing at the bars keeping him contained. Zoe knew it wouldn’t take much of his malcontent in his cage before he got out and started after them.

She clenched her jaw and gripped the hammer tightly in her hands before marching over to the second hook. She took a deep breath and swung the hammer before bringing it down hard on the hook.

Their chains broke and all of them fell to the floor right as Zoe heard a rattling at the door. It was quickly kicked open and her heart jumped at the sight of the Doctor.

She remembered him from his picture. He had wild brown hair that seemed to stick in every possible direction, soft brown eyes, a brown suit rather than the blue suit in his photo and strangely Converses on-though she found she loved them entirely no matter how odd they may seem upon first glance.

Zoe hardly noticed that another man had run in beside the Doctor and was now doing what she should be and ushering the servants to safety as the werewolf clawed at the cage.

“Where the hell have you been?!” Rose snapped at the Doctor. 

The Doctor opened his mouth to respond but froze when he saw Zoe beaming away at him. “Zoe,” he breathed.

“Hello,” Zoe grinned, giving him a short wave. This was by far the most attractive face she had seen on him yet. The photo didn’t do him half the justice he deserved.

The Doctor practically glided over to her and Rose rolled her eyes at the pair of them as she pulled herself out of the chains and helped the man get the servants to safety.

The Doctor only stopped when the werewolf growled particularly loud and he turned to grin even wider at the sight of the creature as it pushed one of the sides of its cage away. 

“Oh, that’s beautiful,” the Doctor breathed.

Zoe chuckled and shook her head. She squeezed his arm and he came back down to Earth with wide eyes as he turned to her. 

He chuckled softly and gathered her into his arms for a tight hug. When they pulled apart he beamed at her. “Hello,” he sighed.

“Hello,” Zoe giggled. “Do you think we have more pressing matters than pleasant greetings?” She implored, raising a brow and gesturing absently to the wolf as it burst out of its cage.

The Doctor winced which only resulted in Zoe laughing harder at him. “Right, come on!” He cried, grabbing her hand and running for the door. He stopped only momentarily to wave the last of the servants outside. “Out! Out! Out! Out!” He yelled. 

The Doctor sent Zoe into the corridor and paused at the door for a moment to watch the werewolf with wonder.

“Doctor!” Zoe snapped. 

Before the Doctor could even turn back and apologize the wolf threw a piece of the cage at him. He cursed and ducked the cage before slamming the door on the wolf. He dug inside his coat pocket and hurriedly pulled out his sonic screwdriver to sonic the door shut.

Once he was done, the Doctor took Zoe’s hand once again and bolted after the others to the gun room where they had taken cover. The man the Doctor had a run-in with was helping the ladies get uncuffed and the bald man she had seen down in the cellar was helping the rest of the men, likely one of the first people freed by the Doctor’s friend.

The Doctor called Rose over and grabbed her cuffs to free her with the sonic.

“Right then, where are you?” the Doctor asked Zoe with a raised brow.

“Third trip,” Zoe sighed. 

“Still a bit early on then,” the Doctor remarked and Zoe nodded. Before he could even try to talk to her about it a loud thumping against the door down the corridor told them there were more pressing matters to worry about. He took a deep breath and turned his attention to both Zoe and Rose. “Did he say anything before he transformed? Anything about where he might be from?”

Zoe and Rose shared a look. They had asked the werewolf questions about his goal but they hadn’t bothered to dwell on where the wolf was from because both were certain the other was thinking the same thing: they couldn’t exactly discuss aliens in depth before 19th-century Scottish servants. There were limits to the pieces of the Doctor’s world that you could discuss with others and while Rose knew that better than anything Zoe was beginning to see that.

“We didn’t get the chance to ask,” Zoe sighed. “He transformed by the moonlight and said his home was so far away but beyond that, we didn’t get much else about the planet of origin.”

As they talked the women and the men had all been freed of their cuffs. The women had all hurried away after a brunette woman while the bald man was passing out guns to each of the men in the room except the Doctor.

The Doctor nodded solemnly in understanding. “It could be any form of light modulated species triggered by specific wavelengths,” he shrugged. “Did it say what it wanted?”

“The Queen, the Crown, the throne - you name it,” Rose scoffed. She was right. There wasn’t much the wolf didn’t want out of England.

All of a sudden, there was a loud crash of what sounded like wood right as the Doctor finally got Rose’s cuffs off. He frowned and turned to go inspect the sound. Zoe winced at the sight.

“Is he sure that’s such a good idea?” Zoe murmured and Rose snorted.

“I’m sure it’s the fact that it isn’t a good idea sending him over there,” Rose hummed. 

She heard a harsh growl from within the corridor and within seconds the Doctor was running back into the gun room and taking both her and Rose’s hands without stopping running away from the wolf as she heard its footsteps pound across the floor towards them.

The Doctor pulled them behind the line of men the bald man had formed with guns at the ready for when the wolf arrived. 

It was only a matter of seconds until the wolf turned into the gun room looking for the Doctor.

“Fire!” the bald man cried.

All of the men in the line fired at the wolf and it snarled as it ducked away and disappeared.

Zoe frowned. Could it be that easy? She felt the Doctor tense up beside her and winced. Of course, it wasn’t that easy. It didn’t seem like they would ever get an easy win in their travels together but then again where was the adventure in that? Authors didn’t write best selling novels about easy wins.

“Alright, you men. We should retreat upstairs,” the Doctor instructed. “Come with me.”

“I'll not retreat,” the bald man snapped. “The battle's done. No creature on God's Earth could survive such an assault,” he huffed.

Zoe’s eyes widened as he turned away from them and began marching out of the gun room.

“Don’t!” Zoe hollered. “You don’t know what this thing is capable of!”

“I’m telling you, come upstairs!” the Doctor snapped.

The bald man turned around and practically sneered at the Doctor. “And I'm telling you, sir, I will sleep well tonight with that thing's hide upon my wall.” He marched out to the doorway and smirked as he noticed the vacant corridor. “It must have crawled away to-.”

He was cut off by his screams as a large paw reached down from the ceiling and devoured him with vicious snarls amongst the bald man’s shouts of terror.

Zoe stumbled backward and stared at the ceiling with wide eyes. “Oh, my God.”

The Doctor stared at the ceiling for a full minute and though Zoe couldn’t see his voice she doubted he was thinking anything pleasant. Eventually, he jumped and grabbed Zoe’s hand without even making to try and pull Rose to his side.

“There’s nothing we can do!” the Doctor screamed.

He dragged Zoe down out of the gun room with Rose and the man, Sir Robert she learned, following closely behind. Zoe’s eyes were fixed on the man in the ceiling even as she knew he was dead and the other men in the room seemed equally transfixed as they raised their guns to begin shooting at the wolf.

They ran as far as they could to the tune of gunfire and screams from the men left behind in the gun room, but eventually, the Doctor skidded to a stop. He glanced at Rose and gave her a quick nod. She nodded in response and ushered Sir Robert further away from Zoe and the Doctor while the Doctor himself placed his hands on Zoe’s shoulders and glanced down at her like a concerned parent.

“That-He-Is he dead?” Zoe gasped.

The Doctor cupped her cheek and took a slow, steadying breath. “We couldn’t save him, Zoe. I know what you-.”

“No, don’t tell me you know what I’m thinking!” Zoe snapped pulling out of his grasp and clenching her jaw. “Don’t compare this to my mum or try to make me feel better after we watched a man die!”

The Doctor watched her carefully and sighed. “And I’m sorry, I’m _so_ sorry, but it won’t be the last time.”

Zoe met his brown eyes with her own brown eyes as a million different emotions swarmed through her mind at once. Her new reality hadn’t sunk in until that very moment when she was forced to see just how indubitable this world was. This _life_ was. She was going to see death regularly from here on out and there was nothing she could do to change it. All she could do about this was accept it and keep moving forward.

Zoe sucked in a sharp breath. So much of her life had changed so fast she found herself yearning for the life she had before with an abusive father and uni classes overwhelming her every moment of existence.

Her eyes flicked up to meet the Doctor’s once again and for the moment her rigid, guarded posture fell and she looked at him with the vulnerability of a four-year-old who had no idea just how cruel the world could be.

“Are you going to make it?” She murmured, her voice soft and wary when she spoke.

The Doctor smirked at her. “Yes, of course.”

Zoe sighed and hung her head, her eyes fluttering shut despite the ever-present danger of the wolf finding them. “Okay,” she mumbled. “Okay, I have to do this, don’t I?”

“You don’t have to do anything,” the Doctor assured her.

“No,” Zoe disagreed. “I have to do this,” she insisted. She glanced toward Rose and Sir Robert. “Let’s go,” she nodded to them.

Rose glanced up at the Doctor and frowned, furrowing her brows at the man. He simply shrugged and Zoe winced. No doubt they had communicated silently about her and left her out of the discussion. She didn’t exactly love that. 

“A-Are you sure?” the Doctor asked. “Because if you need a bit more time-.”

“If I take a bit more time to process all of this I’m either going to start sobbing or running and I’d rather not allow my mind to overthink every single bad thing possible while a wolf is hunting us down,” Zoe huffed. “Now can we go?”

Rose and the Doctor shared another look and Zoe rolled her eyes. She was beginning to hate that.

They both shrugged. 

“Fine by me,” Rose proclaimed. And so it was.

The Doctor grabbed Zoe’s hand and the four of them took off running down the corridor once again. 

They reached a staircase where a woman in a black dress with silver hair was making her way gradually down the steps. Meanwhile, the Doctor ran out to check all the other potential exits to the right of them.

“Hold on,” Zoe frowned. She would recognize that face anywhere. She had seen more than her fair share of paintings in school and ventured through enough museums to know who it was. 

“Your Majesty?” Sir Robert implored, shoving past the trio towards the woman. “Your Majesty!” He cried, running up the steps to her.

“Sir Robert? What’s happening?” She asked as she came down the stairs. “I heard such terrible noises.”

“That’s not-,” Zoe muttered, shaking her head adamantly while beside her Rose fought hard to cover up snickers. 

She held up her jaw and took a deep breath. “Captain Reynolds deposed of him,” the woman announced.

“Bloody hell,” Zoe gasped. Her face falling and her face never changing past the stricken appearance she stared at the Queen with. “It is, it is.”

Rose broke and barked out a laugh as she watched Zoe slowly process the woman standing before them.

“Queen Victoria!” Zoe exclaimed. “I-,” she glanced back at Rose and waved wildly at the Queen while Rose giggled and nodded, fully aware of who the woman was. “You-You’re Queen Victoria!”

“And might I ask who you are, child?” Queen Victoria implored with a raised brow. She turned to Sir Robert posing the question to him rather than Zoe as though he would have a better idea of who Zoe was than the woman herself.

Zoe cleared her throat to draw the Queen’s attention back to her. “Erm, I’m a friend of Rose and the Doctor, Your Majesty. Zoe Wilson.”

“And, pray tell Miss Wilson, how did you come to this estate without my noticing you?” Queen Victoria wondered and Zoe blanched.

Zoe turned back to Rose, raising a brow and silently begging the girl for some sort of answer she could give the Queen of England.

“Er, she was falling behind so we told her where we would be. She found me in the cellar and then the Doctor got us,” Rose explained awkwardly before looking up and shrugging as though that told the Queen how Zoe would even know to look in the cellar.

“I see,” Queen Victoria quipped, her tone that of a parent who knew you were lying and would certainly be fighting you on it.

Rose and Zoe shared a wince, both looking like the sisters who knew they were in deep trouble later.

Thankfully, the Doctor ran in just in time. “The front door's no good, it's been boarded shut. Pardon me, Your Majesty. You'll have to leg it out of a window,” he said, waving the Queen towards the drawing-room.

Queen Victoria straightened and held her chin up before gracefully gliding towards the drawing-room, moving just as Zoe would expect from a woman who had been Queen of England since she was eighteen-years-old.

“I’m sorry, did the two of you just know we were in an estate with Queen Victoria _and_ a bloody werewolf and decide to keep it from me?” Zoe murmured to Rose and the Doctor with a frown.

Rose snorted while the Doctor rolled his eyes.

“Sorry, but we had a bit too much to deal with at the moment, don't you think?” He implored with a raised brow.

“No,” Zoe scoffed. “If you had enough time to stop and check on me you could’ve brought up in passing that we were with the Queen.”

“The Doctor and I also have a bet going,” Rose whispered with a smile, her eyes flicking back to Victoria to make sure she wasn’t listening. “I bet ten quid could get her to say, ‘we are not amused’,” she said, quoting the famous phrase in an exceedingly posh accent like the Queen’s.

Zoe smirked. “Oh, I want in on that. I bet ten quid I can get her to say it before you.”

“Done,” Rose scoffed. “The Doctor thinks we can’t do it.”

“Oh I didn’t say that,” the Doctor huffed. “I just think you’re putting quite a bit of faith in a phrase you don’t know for sure she said.”

“Well, you don’t know that she didn’t say it so buzz off and have some fun with it,” Zoe shrugged. 

Rose turned to the Doctor with a raised brow and smirk almost as if she was taunting him over the fact that Zoe sided with her and the Doctor rolled his eyes again.

“Fine but when you both owe me ten quid I’ll be laughing the entire trip back to the Tardis,” the Doctor warned.

Zoe and Rose shared a smirk as Rose looped her arm through Zoe’s and they laughed together heading into the drawing-room.

Queen Victoria walked bravely up to the window and Zoe felt a swell of admiration for the woman. She didn’t remember much from Queen Victoria’s story apart from the basics due to her complete disinterest in her history classes. However, she did remember that the woman had a rough go of it leading up to the throne due to the basic sexism as well as her menace of a mother, then when she finally claimed the throne and became estranged from her mother she had to give birth to nine children she wasn’t too pleased about having in the first place. If Zoe had her history right, the Queen had lost her husband and her mother not too long ago in the same year and the black attire she wore at that moment as evidence of her mourning for her husband right up until her death.

All in all, being a Queen at any point in history couldn’t have been easy but this was a Queen who had suffered loss, pain, and some of the worst abuses from her mother and the man her mother had been infatuated with. However, despite all this, she appeared a force to be reckoned with and Zoe couldn’t help but admire her for it. 

Zoe tried to be strong no matter what she faced but she would be the first to admit there were many days when she felt weaker because of it. She told herself she was only human but outside of bravery on behalf of her friends she found she could rarely stare down the barrel of the gun for herself. She was a ghost of the girl she had been growing up and a lot of what she had endured was to blame. 

She hoped being torn away from life with her father she could grow into half the strength and persistence Queen Victoria seemed to bear.

Before Queen Victoria could reach the window the Doctor told her to leg it out of, Sir Robert held out his arm to stop her in her tracks. “Excuse my manners, Ma'am, but I shall go first, the better to assist Her Majesty's egress” he proclaimed.

“A noble sentiment, my Sir Walter Raleigh,” Queen Victoria hummed.

Zoe and the Doctor shared a look and although she didn’t know too much about the man by her side, she could tell from a single glimpse at his tense face he was just as impatient as she was- especially considering what they were facing right then.

“Yeah, any chance you could hurry up?” the Doctor snapped, raising a brow at Sir Robert.

Sir Robert turned to the Doctor with wide eyes and nodded before scurrying towards the window. He unlocked it and began to crawl out only for several gunshots to go off. 

The Doctor, Zoe, Rose, and Queen Victoria all ducked down while Sir Robert jumped out of the line of fire and slammed the window shut. 

Once the gunfire stopped, the Doctor rushed up to the window and narrowed his eyes at the people shooting outside. There was a line of men in orange clothing with bald heads and guns raised seemingly waiting and almost anticipating they would try to open the window and try to escape.

“I reckon the monkey boys want us to stay inside,” the Doctor murmured.

“So we’re just locked in here,” Zoe groaned.

“Do they know who I am?” Queen Victoria huffed and Zoe had to bite back a laugh.

In a different time, those would be the words of a pretentious celebrity who thought they could get out just about anything but a traffic ticket. Zoe was certain even in her wildest dreams she never could have pictured it coming from Queen Victoria’s lips as she was desperately trying to escape the house containing a werewolf fighting to bite her.

“I reckon that’s the reason they won’t let you out,” Zoe mumbled.

“Yeah, that's why they want you,” Rose nodded in agreement. “The wolf's lined you up for a, a biting,” she winced.

“Stop this talk,” Queen Victoria snapped, glaring at the two girls as if they were her children. “There can't be an actual wolf.”

As if he heard her and was trying to prove just how real he was, the wolf howled loudly across the house and Zoe felt her blood run cold at the sound. If she died by a werewolf attack in the 1800s could she somehow send word to the people she knew in the twenty-first century just so they know how brilliantly she went out or would she just be on a missing person list for the rest of time?

The Doctor shoved past them, completely unaware of the fact that at that very moment Zoe was contemplating her death by a werewolf. He marched into the corridor and after a momentary frown after him, Rose shrugged and followed leading the other three to do just the same.

The Doctor stared down the corridor, his eyes searching for the wolf but when he couldn’t spot or hear it anywhere near, he sighed deeply and raked his fingers through his hair undoubtedly searching the archives of his mind for a new plan.

“What do we do?” Rose asked after the Doctor had been silent for at least three minutes.

The Doctor took a deep breath and turned back to the group. “We run,” he shrugged. 

“Is that it?” Rose frowned.

“No brilliant last-minute ideas on how to fight it?” Zoe implored with a raised brow.

“Either of you got any silver bullets?” the Doctor prompted, glimpsing between the pair of them.

Rose and Zoe looked at each other, the silent air of curiosity as both of them ridiculously believed for a brief period that the other may be carrying silver bullets.

Eventually, they both turned back to the Doctor and shrugged.

“Not on me, no,” Rose sighed.

“I suppose they’re in my other trousers,” Zoe muttered.

The Doctor smiled softly at them and nodded. He seemed to get even the smallest amounts of joy from his companions, or as Zoe had observed more often than not- she alone made him smile, in even the most impossible and terrifying scenarios. It made her chest swell with importance as though she didn’t need to be that great brave hero in her future everybody talked about because she made someone happy when the weight of the world was on their shoulders. That could be more than enough.

“There we are then, we run,” he sighed. “Your Majesty, as a Doctor, I recommend a rigorous jog,” he instructed, jogging in place to demonstrate. “Good for the health. Come on!” He hollered. He waved the group up to the stairs while taking Queen Victoria’s hand into his own.

Rose and Zoe lead the group running up the stairs side by side while Sir Robert was close behind them and Queen Victoria and the Doctor were at the back with the Doctor likely ensuring Queen Victoria didn’t overexert herself and end up being caught by the werewolf, but she was still running fast enough to keep it from catching and biting her.

Once they ran up the first flight of steps the wolf howled loudly. His howls were immediately followed by the sound of wood smashing and his growls steadily grew closer telling them one thing: the wolf had smashed his way to them.

“Come on! Come on!” the Doctor cried, pushing past them up the stairs.

They bolted down the corridor and rounded the first corner to their left only for a man in a uniform to straighten and raise a gun.

Zoe’s eyes widened. She and Rose ducked under his arm to hide behind him while the other three ran around him. 

The man fired off several shots and drove the wolf back to the staircase momentarily, giving him time to reload his gun so he could prepare to shoot again.

“Captain Reynolds,” Queen Victoria gasped, her chest heaving from the running they had done.

“I'll take this position and hold it,” he said as he reloaded. “You keep moving, for God's sake! Your Majesty, I went to look for the property and it was taken. The chest was empty,” he frowned, his brows furrowing in silent distress.

“I have it,” Queen Victoria nodded, patting her bag. “It’s safe,” she assured him.

Silently, Zoe wondered what this ‘property’ could be but quickly decided it wasn’t worthy of stressing herself over. The wolf wasn’t looking for it just based on what he had told Rose and Zoe in the cellar and it wasn’t going to stop the wolf from wanting to bite Queen Victoria, so it wasn’t her concern. If it couldn’t do anything to solve their current predicament it wasn’t worth her time.

Captain Reynolds smiled at the safety of the ‘property’. “Then remove yourself, Ma'am. Doctor, you stand as Her Majesty's Protector,” he instructed the Doctor. He finished loading up his gun and raised it to the ceiling as he shot a quick glare at Sir Robert. “And you, Sir Robert, you're a traitor to the crown,” he huffed.

Sir Robert winced and the Doctor rolled his eyes. Zoe knew she was thinking the same thing as the Doctor at that moment: there was no use stressing over who was a traitor when the wolf would happily kill all of them to get to Queen Victoria. They were all at risk there.

“Bullets can’t stop it!” the Doctor snapped at Captain Reynolds.

“They'll buy you time. Now run!” Captain Reynolds barked, already turning to the open corridor where the wolf would be running out to him.

They all ran across the corridor to a library with large wooden doors left open for them to easily run inside and slam them shut. Each of them raced inside that library except for Zoe. 

She remained in the corridor just within eyesight of Captain Reynolds as she heard the wolf growl and leap through the corridor, scratching and clawing at the walls as it pounced. Captain Reynolds fired round after round at the wolf but it didn’t seem to do as much as it had done earlier, likely because then he’d had the element of surprise on his side. 

It only took a minute for the wolf to jump on Captain Reynolds and against his screams it began ripping him slowly to shreds. 

Zoe felt her stomach turn over and despite never being the sort who couldn’t handle blood she felt her mind slip away from her and gravity begin to press down harder than it ever had.

However, before she could even start to collapse she felt strong arms wrap around her waist. Immediately, she was torn away from the horrifying scene and dropped into the library where Sir Robert quickly slammed the large doors shut. 

“Barricade the door!” Sir Robert hollered.

Zoe jumped at his scream and leaped into action, her legs moving her before her mind could even process the graphic scene she had watched. 

Along with the others, save Queen Victoria, they collected chairs and benches and any sturdy material they could carry and used it to block the door against any attempts the wolf might make to burst it open.

Once the door was sufficiently blocked they all stepped back to the sounds of the wolf slowly pounding its way towards the door. It clawed for a bit and tried to hit the doors softly but that was nothing near the efforts Zoe had seen it make barely ten minutes ago. 

“Wait a minute. Shush, shush, wait a minute,” the Doctor silenced them, placing a finger to his lips so they could listen to the wolf. There was one lonely howl and then pure silence. “It stopped,” he murmured.

Before they could say anything, the Doctor jumped up onto the seat of one of the chairs leaning against the door. He pressed his ear to the door and listened with furrowed brows.

Zoe strained her ears to try and listen to the wolf. She heard soft sniffs as though the wolf could smell the Doctor where he stood and was making him out to be a pretty decent snack. Then there were subtle vibrations like the wolf was growling lowly near the wall but it was far too close for them to hear the proper growl. After that, there was silence once more and the Doctor moving his ear away from the door to turn to them with wide eyes only confirmed this.

“It’s gone,” he mumbled. 

Zoe wanted to agree with him but mere seconds after he said that she heard the heavy pound of the wolf’s feet falling as it marched further down the corridor. 

“I can still hear it,” Zoe breathed.

By the way Rose was following the sound with wide eyes her hand shaking as she lifted a finger to stop everybody from talking, Zoe was willing to bet her entire life’s savings the girl could hear the wolf too.

“Listen,” Rose muttered.

The wolf’s footsteps were about as loud as the pounding of Zoe’s heartbeat in her ears as it growled and scraped at the walls, desperately hunting for a new entrance or way in to attack them.

“It this the only door?” the Doctor asked Sir Robert in a whisper barely audible. Zoe didn’t doubt they wouldn’t have heard a single word from his lips if the room hadn’t been deathly silent.

“Yes,” Sir Robert sighed, seeming almost relieved at his knowledge. There was a beat of silence before Sir Robert straightened. “No!” He cried.

Zoe and the Doctor whipped around to see Sir Robert running one of the few remaining chairs in the room to barricade a singular door on the left side of the room. They both quickly followed as the Doctor carried a small table and Zoe lifted a sword out of a medieval knight’s armor in the corner of the room. She tossed the sword to the Doctor and he shoved it through the arms of a few chairs against the door. 

Once the other door was properly barricaded, Rose held up a hand to stop them from speaking.

The wolf continued to march around the room searching for an entrance and they all collectively held their breaths. The wolf continued to claw and snarl at the walls as it lacked a way to get in even though it had used brute force to get everywhere else in the estate.

Eventually, it clawed the wall roughly and marched away with a put-out growl.

“Why isn’t it trying to break in?” Zoe wondered.

“I don’t understand,” Rose nodded, her thoughts mirroring Zoe’s confused ones. “What’s stopping it?”

The Doctor tiptoed forward, furrowing his brows as he glanced around the room. “Something inside this room,” he hummed. “What is it? Why can't it get in?” He wondered.

Rose took a slow shuddering breath as she looked between Zoe and the Doctor while the pair of them frowned at the room as though the reason for the wolf keeping back would jump out and scream at them.

“I tell you what, though,” Rose muttered, her eyes dancing as she watched the pair.

Zoe and the Doctor shared a look.

“What?” the Doctor implored, raising a brow at her.

“Werewolf,” Rose smirked.

Zoe felt her worries wipe away as, just for that moment, she allowed herself to join in with her friends- freaking out over how cool it was that they were fighting a werewolf with Queen Victoria. There had always been that underlying sense of elation that came out briefly when she first met Queen Victoria but now with one little word Rose had given her permission to feel that glee she had been suppressing for the grave reality and horror they were also facing.

“I know!” the Doctor exclaimed, beaming at the women. 

They all laughed and pulled each other into a group hug and Zoe felt her worries and stress over whether they would or wouldn’t make it melt away. She felt safety, comfort and the overwhelming feeling of home engulf her senses while she was in their arms. The future they told her of wasn’t certain but she knew if it came down to it they would go down guns blazing. It would be a simply terrible end like Captain Reynolds had, they would run through ideas and fight for their right to live no matter the costs.

Part of her could only help she grew to be just that brave in the future rather than cowering away from the barrel of a gun when it threatened her. After all, what good was bravery in the face of death if you could only do it when your friends were more at risk than you would ever be?

“Are you both alright?” the Doctor asked, pulling out of their hugs and glimpsing over the women searching for any injuries.

“I’m okay, yeah,” Rose sighed.

“I’m good,” Zoe assured him with a small smile.

The Doctor took a deep breath and nodded, running his fingers through his hair.

“I'm sorry, Ma'am,” Sir Robert huffed. They all turned to see Sir Robert seated on a bench by the medieval armor in the corner of the room. He had his head in his hands and his posture was slumped with defeat. “It's all my fault. I should have sent you away. I tried to suggest something was wrong. I thought you might notice. Did you think there was nothing strange about my household staff?”

Zoe raised a brow and turned to the Doctor and Rose. She hadn’t gotten a chance to see the staff outside of the cellar, so she had no idea who he could be talking about.

“Well, they were bald, athletic,” the Doctor shrugged. “Your wife's away, I just thought you were happy.”

Zoe snorted. It was too far-fetched a concept.

“I'll tell you what though, Ma'am, I _bet_ you're not amused now,” Rose hummed and Zoe couldn’t fight back the bark of laughter that erupted from her at Rose’s blatant attempt.

“Way too obvious!” Zoe exclaimed and Rose beamed at her.

“I want your money, I’m not even going to bother apologizing,” Rose huffed.

Queen Victoria, on the other hand, found it far from amusing. “Do you think this is funny?” She snapped.

Both Rose and Zoe’s face fell and they hung their heads like children being scolded by their mother.

“No, Ma’am,” Rose mumbled.

“Sorry, Ma’am,” Zoe murmured.

“What, exactly, I pray tell me, someone, please,” Queen Victoria insisted. “What exactly is that creature?”

The Doctor winced, obviously more than a bit anxious talking to Queen Victoria after she just scolded Zoe and Rose, but he stepped forward. “You'd call it a werewolf, but technically it's a more of a lupine wavelength haemovariform,” he explained.

“And should I trust you, sir?” Queen Victoria scoffed. “You who change your voice so easily? What happened to your accent?” She implored with a raised brow.

The Doctor sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh right, sorry, that's-,” he started in a Scottish accent and Zoe frowned at him.

“You had a Scottish accent?” She asked.

“I'll not have it,” Queen Victoria snapped, holding up a hand to silence the pair of them. “No, sir. Not you, not that thing, none of it. This is _not_ my world,” she hissed.


	7. Dame Zoe Wilson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back? Back again? I'm like a shit Slim Shady but please do not throw things and start screaming. I am a very fragile girl who cannot write when depression clenches her between its teeth. But I'm back! I'm really back! I'm already starting on the next episode for Zoe.
> 
> Also, TWO BIG OL NOTES: First, I mention Brandon Park in this chapter. I know full well Brandon Park is not real but neither is the Powell Estate. I didn't want to list a council estate and then get something slightly wrong and have a dozen people correcting me. It's easier to make one up
> 
> Second, I started off this fic saying the thirteenth doctor would be featured in this but only season eleven because season eleven was all that's out. Well, now that it's been a year some of you may be going "uh do season twelve" and I want to! Trust me, I do! I love the entirety of season twelve it's so cool and SPOILER WARNING, SPOILERS, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED this version of the master somehow managed to fill the massive shoes Michelle Gomez left behind. Nevertheless, I pride myself on how accurate I am when writing episodes because I have the episode open in one tab, the transcript open in another tab, and the doc open in the final tab. The twelfth season has not been released to HBO Now yet so, unfortunately, I cannot write season twelve until it is. I'M SO SORRY. please enjoy season eleven okay bye, for now, love you.

Zoe narrowed her eyes at the door. There was a decent-sized carving in the wood that she just noticed. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t think anything of it but she was beginning to realize that with the Doctor everything meant something and nothing was to be dismissed.

“Er, Doctor?” Zoe implored. “This might be important,” she said, waving his attention to the carving.

The Doctor furrowed and pulled a pair of small square, black spectacles out of his coat before pushing them up his nose and squinting at the carving. “Mistletoe,” he murmured frowning at the symbol. “Sir Robert, did your father put that there?” He asked, glancing at the man still seated on the bench.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I suppose.”

“Oh, look,” Zoe said, straightening as she spotted the symbol partially covered on the other door as well. She pointed it out to the Doctor and he furrowed his brows.

“On the other door, too,” the Doctor hummed. He put his spectacles back into his coat and sighed deeply running his fingers through his hair. Zoe could already tell she was about to lose him to a whirling thought process that would leave her staring vacantly at him wondering just what he was talking about. “No, a carving wouldn't be enough. I wonder.” He jumped up onto one of the chairs pressed against the door as he had done when listening for the wolf then licked the door.

Zoe felt her stomach roll and winced. She glanced back and found Rose staring at him with wide eyes as though she knew right then and there she would never be able to erase that image from her mind.

“Does he do that often?” Zoe frowned.

Rose sighed softly and rolled her eyes. “I’m not even going to try to ask about the things he does anymore.”

Zoe wanted to fight but as she glimpsed back at the Doctor she found herself agreeing despite knowing the Doctor for a shorter period than Rose. “That’s probably for the best,” she mumbled.

“Viscum album, the oil of the mistletoe. It's been worked into the wood like a varnish,” the Doctor announced and Zoe decided not to ask how he got that from a lick of a door. He jumped back down off the chair and beamed at Sir Robert as though he had just found the answer to world peace. “How clever was your dad? I love him. Powerful stuff, mistletoe. Bursting with lectins and viscotoxins,” he hummed.

“And the wolf’s allergic to it?” Rose assumed with a small frown.

“Well, it thinks it is,” the Doctor shrugged. “The monkey monk monks need a way of controlling the wolf, maybe they trained it to react against certain things.”

“Nevertheless, that creature won't give up, Doctor, and we still don't possess an actual weapon,” Sir Robert huffed, rising to his feet and looking aimlessly around the group.

“Please tell me you’re not actually this thick,” Zoe moaned.

“Oh, your father got all the brains, didn't he?” the Doctor remarked and Zoe didn’t even bother to try and hide her snort of amusement.

“Being rude again,” Rose hummed. “Both of you this time,” she said, shooting a quick glare at Zoe.

“Good,” the Doctor sighed. “I meant that one. You want weapons? We're in a library. Books! Best weapons in the world. This room's the greatest arsenal we could have.” He marched over to one of the bookshelves and pulled out two handfuls of books. He tossed one pile of books to Zoe who stumbled back a few steps at the sudden weight in her arms. “Arm yourselves,” he instructed, smirking as Zoe immediately began flipping through the first book on the stack she had.

The second they all began digging into the books it was as if they all simultaneously began talking at once, spouting out their ideas in the hope that someone might hear and have information supporting what they had so they could connect the dots. 

“Wolves, dogs,” Zoe listed. “But nothing here on werewolves or anything alien.”

“Biology, zoology,” Rose hummed. “There must be something on wolves in here,” she huffed.

“Hold on, what about this?” the Doctor prompted as he flipped through his book. “A book on mistletoe.”

“This is just talking about the dangers of wild animals,” Zoe sighed, turning to the next book in her arms.

“A book on magic,” Rose announced.

“Some form of explosive,” Sir Robert murmured while he flicked through the pages of the book in his arms.

“Hmm, that’s the sort of thing,” the Doctor said.

“Werewolf weaknesses,” Zoe muttered. “Ha, a whole chapter on silver bullets.”

“Wolf’s bane, what about that?” Rose mumbled.

All of a sudden, the Doctor marched in front of all of them and dropped a book in his hands down onto the desk. “Look what your old dad found,” the Doctor announced. “Something fell to Earth.” On the pages, the Doctor had opened the book to there was a sketch of something falling to Earth on one side and a lengthy paged filled with text explaining it on the other side.

“A spaceship?” Rose guessed with a raised brow, voicing the very thought that dropped into Zoe’s head.

“A shooting star,” Sir Robert corrected them before reading the caption beneath the sketch of the star falling to Earth. “In the year of our Lord 1540, under the reign of King James the Fifth, an almighty fire did burn in the pit. That's the Glen of Saint Catherine just by the monastery.”

“But that's over three hundred years ago,” Rose frowned. “What's it been waiting for?” She asked, once again directing the question to both the Doctor and Zoe.

“Hold on,” Zoe frowned as she reread the page. “If it was a fire how could it have survived? Wolf or not, a fire should usually kill everything.”

“Maybe just a single cell survived,” the Doctor hummed. “Adapting slowly down the generations, it survived through the humans, host after host after host.”

“But why?” Sir Robert huffed. “Does it want the throne?”

Zoe and Rose shared a look. “That’s exactly what it wants,” Zoe said, speaking to Rose rather than Sir Robert. “It said so.”

Rose nodded and glanced down at the book again. “The, The Empire of the Wolf,” she remembered in a murmur.

The Doctor stared into the distance with wide eyes and Zoe thought there was something silently beautiful about the looked in that moment. She could watch this face thinking in admiration and awe for hours because it was just so perfect. The last two Doctors she had seen had little aspects of their faces that made them attractive to Zoe, but there wasn’t a single thing in this Doctor’s face that wasn’t completely mesmerizing. 

“Imagine it,” the Doctor breathed, completely ignorant to her silent admiration. “The Victorian Age accelerated. Starships and missiles fueled by coal and driven by steam, leaving history devastated in its wake.”

Queen Victoria shot up in her seat at that. As protector of the realm, Zoe could guess she didn’t love the Doctor casually dropping the devastation of history.

“Sir Robert. If I am to die here-.”

“Don’t say that, Your Majesty,” Sir Robert gasped. 

Zoe rolled his eyes at his empty chivalry. Technically, it was Queen Victoria’s job to spend her reign imagining what would happen in the best case scenario after she died. It was her job to plan and make sure things wouldn’t fall apart without her.

Queen Victoria carried on speaking as though he hadn’t said a thing making Zoe smirk at her. “I would destroy myself rather than let that creature infect me. But that's no matter. I ask only that you find someplace of safekeeping for something far older and more precious than myself.”

“Hardly the time to worry about your valuables,” the Doctor muttered, furrowing his brows at her. Zoe snorted and nodded glancing between him and the Queen.

Queen Victoria smiled thinly at him, likely wishing to spit some choice words at him but having too much diplomacy to do so. “Thank you for your opinion, but there is nothing more valuable than this.” She reached into her back and pulled out a large hundred-carat diamond.

Zoe was certain everyone in the room stopped breathing as their attention was all dragged towards the diamond. They all walked over to Queen Victoria, each wishing to get a better look at it.

“Holy cockrel,” Zoe breathed, the better a look she got at the diamond.

“Is that the Koh-I-Noor?” Rose asked.

“It must be,” Zoe mumbled.

“Oh, yes,” the Doctor hummed. “The greatest diamond in the world.”

“Given to me as the spoils of the war,” Queen Victoria nodded. “Perhaps its legend is now coming true. It is said that whoever owns it must surely die.”

“Well, that’s true of anything if people own it long enough,” Zoe scoffed and the Doctor smirked, nodding in agreement.

The Doctor turned to Queen Victoria smiling gently at her. “May I?” He asked, holding his hands out for the diamond.

Queen Victoria hesitated for a brief moment before handing the diamond over to the Doctor. Rose and Zoe moved to stand on either side of the Doctor and stare at the diamond. Zoe ran her fingers lightly over the edges of it, careful not to get any fingerprints on the perfect jewel.

“That is so beautiful,” the Doctor murmured. 

Zoe could only hum in agreement with his words, at a loss for any other way to describe the jewel. 

“How much is that worth?” Rose wondered.

“Gotta be millions,” Zoe muttered.

The Doctor nodded. “They say the wages of the entire planet for a whole week.”

“Good job my mum’s not here,” Rose chuckled. “She’d be fighting the wolf off with her bare hands for that thing.”

“Mm, you might still have to hold me back from throwing myself at that wolf for it,” Zoe giggled. Rose snorted and the Doctor laughed and shook his head.

“Both of you would win,” the Doctor hummed.

“Where  _ is  _ the wolf?” Sir Rober huffed, marching past them to the windows. “I don’t trust this silence.”

The other four carried on staring at the diamond as though there was no wolf in the building with them and Sir Robert had not just expressed legitimate concerns about it. 

“Why do you travel with it?” the Doctor asked, continuing to inspect the diamond.

“My annual pilgrimage,” Queen Victoria explained. “I'm taking it to Helier and Carew, the Royal Jewellers at Hazelhead. The stone needs recutting.”

“Oh, but it’s perfect,” Rose whined. Zoe could only nod furiously in agreement with Rose, it would be a shame to see that diamond lose something perfect in it.

“My late husband never thought so,” Queen Victoria said.

“Now, there's a fact,” the Doctor hummed. “Prince Albert kept on having the Koh-I-Noor cut down. It used to be forty percent bigger than this. But he was never happy. Kept on cutting and cutting.”

“I can’t imagine a single thing being wrong with it,” Zoe sighed. 

“He always said the shine was not quite right,” Queen Victoria mumbled. “But he died with it still unfinished.”

Zoe smiled sadly at Queen Victoria. She could practically hear the loss in Queen Victoria’s voice when she talked about her husband. She knew Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as one of the greatest loves in history. They adored each other but Prince Albert was taken from her so cruelly and she was forced to live so long without him, it made her heart ache thinking of what Queen Victoria must have gone through. She’d always thought the greatest grief was not two people madly in love with each other dying, but rather one leaving the other behind to live alone and mourn them in solitude.

The Doctor, however, was on a completely different track as his eyes began to widen with realization. “Unfinished,” he gasped. “Oh, yes.” He tossed the diamond back to Queen Victoria and luckily the woman caught it, but she looked at him like he had ten heads for throwing the most priceless diamond on Earth and Zoe was of a mindset to agree with her.

The Doctor spun around, running his fingers through his hair furiously and somehow making it look a thousand times more gorgeous than it had. “There's a lot of unfinished business in this house. His father's research, and your husband, Ma'am, he came here and he sought the perfect diamond.” He began to pace as he thought, continuing to run his fingers through his hair like a madman, but at this point, Zoe was absorbed in every word he said, desperate to understand the road he was taking. “Hold on, hold on. All these separate things, they're not separate at all, they're connected. Oh, my head, my head. What if this house, it's a trap for you. Is that right, Ma'am?”

“Obviously,” Queen Victoria huffed.

“At least, that’s what the wolf intended,” the Doctor nodded. “But, what if there’s a trap inside the trap?”

“What are you getting at?” Zoe frowned.

“Explain yourself, Doctor,” Queen Victoria ordered.

“What if his father and your husband weren't just telling each other stories. They dared to imagine all this was true, and they planned against it, laying the real trap not for you but for the wolf,” the Doctor smirked.

Zoe stared at him with wide eyes. She didn’t think she’d ever manage to get tired of his brilliant mind no matter how long she wound up traveling with the Doctor. It was so fascinating how he managed to work things out that she knew it would have taken her ages to grasp and he understood far more than she knew she ever could. He was incredible, every bit of him.

Suddenly, plaster began to fall from the ceiling and they all looked up confused to see the wolf walking around on the skylight right above them.

“That wolf there,” the Doctor breathed.

“Speak of the Devil,” Zoe murmured.

They watched the wolf until the glass began to crack and forced all of them into action desperate to get out of the room before the skylight would shatter and the wolf would be in the room with them.

“Out! Out! Out!” the Doctor cried.

They all bolted to the door they had barricaded and the glass began to crack even louder as they started to throw items to the other side of the room getting them out of the way of the door. Right as Zoe threw the last item out of the way, the glass shattered and the wolf fell into the room with them.

Sir Robert and Queen Victoria were the first ones out of the room and though at first, Robert was fast, he seemed to quickly remember that he had a duty to protect the monarch and spun around to help her. “Your Majesty!” He called as he did so.

“Get to the observatory!” the Doctor hollered as he slammed the mistletoe doors shut as best he could in the wolf’s face.

They all ran down the corridor and got pretty far before the wolf burst through the doors and began charging down the corridor at them. It was a very bad time for Zoe to be the slowest runner for at that moment, she tripped in her boots and after a quick few curses, she turned over so her face wasn’t in the floorboards and found the wolf was just a few feet away from her.

Zoe screamed at the top of her lungs and scrambled away as quick as she could, starting to rise to her feet but her ankle deeply protested that idea and she felt like a hundred wasps were in a ring around her ankle and they stung every time she tried to put weight on it. She screamed even louder as she tried to crawl away as quickly as she could.

“Zoe!” the Doctor cried, and she could faintly hear the sounds of his footsteps approaching rapidly but one look at the wolf told her he wouldn’t be in time.

As the wolf got within a few inches, Zoe winced, preparing herself for some sort of blow only to find none. A woman ran up behind her the moment she started wincing and tossed a pan of liquid all over the wolf. It whimpered loudly and retreated down the corridor.

She heard the Doctor let out a deep sigh from somewhere behind her and then suddenly there were arms around her lifting her to her feet. “Good shot,” the Doctor remarked to the woman.

“It was mistletoe,” the woman gasped.

Once the Doctor spun Zoe around and attempted to place weight on her foot, she cried out again. “I think I twisted my ankle. That’s why I couldn’t get up when the wolf-.”

The Doctor cut her off with a nod. “Keep your hand in mine. I can’t make sure the weight is completely off that foot but I can help.”

Zoe took a deep breath and nodded while Sir Rober reunited with the woman who saved Zoe’s life, who just so happened to be his wife, Isobel. They kissed for a minute before breaking apart still clinging to each other desperately. 

“Now, get back downstairs,” Sir Robert instructed.

“Keep yourself safe,” Isobel sighed.

Sir Robert nodded fervently at her, obviously happy to see her but desperate to get her back to safety. “Now, go.”

Isobel immediately started down the corridor. “Girls, come with me,” she called to the maids standing behind her. “Down the back stairs, back to the kitchens. Quickly!”

“Thank you for saving me!” Zoe cried, hopeful she heard her before she left.

Isobel turned back to face her briefly and smiled. “Don’t mention it.”

The Doctor gripped onto her hand and turned to Sir Robert. “Come on!” He exclaimed.

Sir Robert nodded quickly. “The observatory’s this way,” he said, leading them down the corridor they had already bee halfway down until Zoe started screaming.

Zoe walked as best she could, ignoring the stabs of pain with every step she took and tightening her grip on the Doctor’s hand so that she could lean some of her weight on him while they ran.

They had to head up several flights of stairs to Zoe’s malcontent but she pushed through the pain until eventually, her ankle went numb and while she knew that was certainly not a good sign she was grateful it gave her the chance to loosen her grip on the Doctor’s hand and run faster.

They reached the observatory and Queen Victoria, Rose, and Zoe all ran outside while the Doctor and Sir Robert hung back in the entrance to the observatory.

“No mistletoe in these doors because your father wanted the wolf to get inside,” the Doctor sighed. “I just need time. Is there any way of barricading this?”

Sir Robert clenched his jaw and took a step back. “Just do your work and I’ll defend it.”

Zoe’s eyes widened. “No,” she breathed.

“If we could bind them with rope or something,” the Doctor insisted.

“I said I’d find you time, Sir,” Sir Robert snapped. “Now get inside.”

Zoe felt her heart sink. She hated that. She knew that Sir Robert was doing this, sacrificing himself, because he likely believed he was bound to die regardless once that wolf got inside the observatory and he wanted to die a noble death as many soldiers hoped for. He wanted to die saving the Queen.

The Doctor took a deep breath, likely seeing this as well. “Good man,” he nodded before closing the doors to Sir Robert. He marched up to the Queen and held out his hand. “Your Majesty, the diamond.”

“For what purpose?” Victoria frowned.

“The purpose it was designed for.”

Queen Victoria hesitated for a moment once again before she reached into her bag and pulled out the diamond to hand to the Doctor.

“Rose,” the Doctor called, waving her towards the control wheels for the telescope.

The began pushing the wheels to move the telescope slowly upwards. 

“Lift it,” the Doctor groaned as he tried to move the rusty wheels. “Come on.”

“Is this the right time for stargazing?” Rose wondered.

“Isn’t that supposed to hold the diamond?” Zoe asked with furrowed brows as she pointed at the telescope. It didn’t seem like the Doctor planned on using it for himself.

“Yes, it is,” the Doctor nodded, ending on a grunt as he pushed the wheels.

All of a sudden, there were horrific screams right outside the door and animal snarls that told them all Sir Robert had lost his very short fight against the wolf.

Queen Victoria raised her cross to the door and began praying and Zoe decided to think a little quicker than a prayer. She pressed herself up against the door right in between the two door handles, looping her arms through the handles in the hopes of getting a little extra leverage keeping to wolf back.

It wasn’t long before the wolf began pounding on the door and Zoe cringed as she felt the full force of his hits through the fragile wooden door.

“You said this thing doesn’t work!” Rose reminded the Doctor.

“Does it?!” Zoe exclaimed with wide eyes.

“It doesn't work as a telescope because that's not what it is,” the Doctor explained. “It's a light chamber. It magnifies the light rays like a weapon. We've just got to power it up.”

“It won’t work!” Rose snapped. “There’s no electricity.”

Zoe furrowed her brows. What could they use in place of electricity to power something? Prince Albert and Sir Robert’s father clearly knew. There was always the sun or the wind but the sun wasn’t out and they wouldn’t be using an item that looks like a telescope for the wind. They must mean the moon. It was a full moon out that night for the werewolf to chance.

“Rose, look up!” Zoe called.

Rose did as Zoe said and her eyes widened as she spotted the moon the telescope was moving towards. “Moonlight,” Rose gasped and Zoe beamed at her. “But the wolf needs moonlight. It’s made by moonlight,” she frowned.

“You’re both seventy percent water and you can still drown,” the Doctor explained quickly.

The wolf continued to beat at the door and Zoe winced as she heard the doors creaking on their hinges. “Doctor! Rose! It’s about to break through!” She hollered.

The Doctor gritted his teeth as he fought to pull the wheels even faster. “Come on!” He cried. “Come on!”

Within a few seconds, they got the moonlight shining straight down the telescope lens. It was just in time because right at that moment the wolf broke in and sent Zoe flying as he broke the doors. She landed on her face a few feet away while the wolf made a beeline for Queen Victoria. 

The Doctor dropped to his stomach and slid the diamond straight towards the beam of moonlight on the ground. It refracted upwards catching the wolf in its beam and lifting it up off the floor. The Doctor immediately crawled over to Zoe once the wolf was no longer a threat. She crawled into a sitting position and began rubbing her head, her forehead not enjoying that hard blow to the floor. The Doctor brushed a few strands of brown hair out of her face and cupped her cheek.

“Are you okay?” He whispered.

Zoe sighed softly and nodded, massaging her head with her palm.

The Doctor smiled gently at her and rose to his feet before offering her a hand to help her up. Zoe accepted and they headed over to stand beside Rose while she watched the wolf.

The moonlight morphed the wolf back into a man who was silent for a few moments before he softly spoke a request that broke Zoe’s heart. “Make it brighter. Let me go.”

The Doctor sucked in a sharp breath and wordlessly moved to adjust the magnification of the eyepiece. The man morphed back into a wolf briefly and howled loudly before vanishing.

The Doctor picked the diamond off the floor and Rose let out a deep sigh now that it was finally over but Zoe furrowed her brows as she watched the Queen. She seemed to be admiring something on her wrist.

Zoe tapped the Doctor’s shoulder. “Erm?” She said, pointing towards the Queen.

The Doctor frowned and took a single yet cautious step towards her. “Your Majesty? Did it bite you?”

“No,” Queen Victoria sighed, never even turning to speak to the Doctor. She kept her eyes trained on her wrist. “It’s, it’s a cut, that’s all.”

Slowly, the Doctor crept around her to speak to her. “If that thing bit you-,” he began. 

“It was a splinter of wood when the door cam apart,” Queen Victoria insisted. “It’s nothing.”

The Doctor didn’t seem the slightest bit convinced. “Let me see,” he implored, reaching for her wrist only to have her snatch it back.

“It is nothing,” she snapped.

* * *

Once daylight broke, the Doctor, Zoe, and Rose all did the only thing any of them could agree on. They asked Queen Victoria to knight them. Queen Victoria took the time to wrap up what they all agreed was likely a bite (otherwise, why didn’t she show the Doctor?) before she got a sword and gathered the household for the ceremony.

The three of them were asked to kneel before the Queen and Zoe felt her heart pounding in her ears as she did so. If someone had told her last week she would be knighted by Queen Victoria for helping a time-traveling alien save her from a werewolf she would have thought they were mad, but there she was and she found she couldn’t have been happier.

“By the power invested in me by the Church and the State, I dub thee Sir Doctor of Tardis,” Queen Victoria said as she placed the sword over both his shoulders. The Doctor grinned wider than Zoe had seen yet and her heart did a quick leap at the sight. Queen Victoria turned to Zoe. “By the power invested in me by the Church and the State, I dub thee Dame Zoe of Brandon Park.” 

Zoe had trouble controlling her breathing as Queen Victoria placed the sword on her shoulders. She was a Dame now. She was officially a Dame. And her father said she wouldn’t amount to anything substantial. Queen Victoria turned to Rose and she heard the girl suck in a sharp breath making Zoe smirk. 

“I dub thee Dame Rose of the Powell Estate,” Queen Victoria proclaimed as she placed the sword on both Rose’s shoulders.

They rose to their feet and Rose immediately grabbed Zoe’s hand and squeezed it tightly making the girl giggle and squeeze back excitedly. 

“Many thanks, Ma’am,” the Doctor nodded, his grin never leaving his face. 

“I couldn’t say thank you enough, Ma’am,” Zoe gasped.

“Thanks,” Rose grinned. “They’re never going to believe this back home.”

“Your Majesty, you said last night about receiving no message from the great beyond,” the Doctor reminded her. “I think your husband cut that diamond to save your life. He's protecting you even now, Ma'am, from beyond the grave,” he said, smiling softly at her.

Queen Victoria didn’t seem the slightest bit pleased with the information. “Indeed,” she hummed. “Then you may think on this also. That I am not amused.”

Zoe’s eyes widened and the Doctor groaned as Rose laughed and exclaimed, “yes!” 

“That counts as a win for us both,” Zoe insisted, beaming as she looked between the Doctor and Rose. “Because technically we got her to say it together.”

“Oh, definitely,” Rose nodded. “You owe us both,” she chuckled. 

“I am not remotely amused!” Queen Victoria snapped at them and that quieted their laughter immediately. “And henceforth, I banish you.”

Zoe almost choked.

“I’m sorry?” the Doctor gasped.

“I have rewarded you, Sir Doctor, and now you are exiled from this empire, never to return. I don't know what you are, the three of you, or where you're from, but I know that you consort with stars and magic and think it fun,” Queen Victoria hissed. Was Zoe getting told off by the Queen of England? “But your world is steeped in terror and blasphemy and death, and I will not allow it. You will leave these shores and you will reflect, I hope, on how you came to stray so far from all that is good, and how much longer you may survive this terrible life. Now leave my world, and never return.”

That took a turn. The three of them left the house in awkward silence. They got on a cart and it took ten minutes for any of them to speak only for the Doctor to complain that he now has to steer completely clear of the entire nineteenth century for fear of running into Queen Victoria. Zoe and Rose fell into laughter and the conversation soon got comfortable again as they started talking about Queen Victoria’s werewolf bite as soon as they reached the Tardis.

The three of them hopped off the cart as soon as they were within good walking distance. 

“Cheers, Dougal!” the Doctor called as the man who had given them a lift began to drive away. Dougal gave them a kind wave goodbye.

“No, but the funny thing is, Queen Victoria did actually suffer a mutation of the blood,” the Doctor told them. “It's historical record. She was haemophiliac. They used to call it the Royal Disease. But it's always been a mystery because she didn't inherit it. Her mum didn't have it, her dad didn't have it. It came from nowhere.”

“What, and you’re saying that’s a wolf bite?” Rose frowned.

“Doesn’t haemophilia mean something else?” Zoe wondered. “I mean what even is it?”

“Well, maybe haemophilia is just a Victorian euphemism,” the Doctor proposed with a shrug.

“For werewolf?” Rose scoffed.

“Could be,” the Doctor nodded.

“So when they said she was a haemophiliac they meant-,” Zoe furrowed her brows.

“Queen Victoria’s a werewolf?” Rose finished with wide eyes.

“Could be,” the Doctor hummed. “And her children had the Royal Disease. Maybe, she gave them a quick nip.”

“Bloody hell,” Zoe gasped.

“So, the Royal Family are werewolves?” Rose prompted.

“Wouldn’t we have some sort of evidence that Queen Victoria and her family were werewolves more than just the disease?” Zoe frowned. “I mean she had  _ a lot  _ of kids, someone would have noticed.”

“Well, maybe not yet,” the Doctor sighed, shrugging his shoulders. “I mean, a single wolf cell could take a hundred years to mature. Might be ready by, oh, early twenty-first century?” He guessed while looking at the women with a smirk.

Rose snorted. “Nah, that’s ridiculous!” She laughed.

With wide eyes, Zoe furrowed her brows at Rose. “Is it really? I mean think about the people we’ve got in that family.”

Rose winced. “Princess Anne,” she murmured.

“Prince Andrew,” Zoe added with a nod.

“I’ll say no more,” the Doctor hummed, smiling as he pulled out his key to unlock the Tardis.

“And if you think about it,” Rose chuckled to Zoe as they headed into the Tardis. “They’re very private. They plan everything in advance.”

“All their meetings and engagements are super formal,” Zoe agreed. “Every second is plotted out.”

“They could schedule themselves around the moon,” Rose said. “We’d never know!” She exclaimed with a laugh. “And they like hunting!”

“They love blood sports,” Zoe added as the Doctor pulled a lever on the control panel making them dematerialize.

“Oh my God, they’re werewolves!” Rose cried and the Doctor and Zoe burst out laughing. “I, I need to go lie down,” Rose sighed.

“Good idea,” Zoe giggled. “I’m gonna go change out of these bloody boots,” she huffed.

“I don’t know how much time you have left but if you get a chance, put a bandage around that ankle,” the Doctor instructed. “The medical supplies should be in the room just across from your bedroom.”

“Brilliant,” Zoe sighed. “Very convenient, that is.”

“It’s like that for a reason,” the Doctor hummed.

“Yeah, I was getting that,” Zoe chuckled. “When I get back I am hunting you down for our money,” she warned.

“Oh, now you’ve got me hoping that thing will carry you away,” the Doctor laughed.

Zoe snorted and rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a sore loser,” she instructed. “I’ll be back.”

“I know,” the Doctor sighed. “You always come back. Like an awful Terminator.”

“Oi!” Zoe snapped, giggling as she spun to him with wide eyes. “There was no reason for the insults.”

“There’s always a reason,” the Doctor smirked.

“Well, I’m tired after being hunted by a werewolf and getting banished about a hundred years before I was born and my ankle hurts so I’m calling foul.”

The Doctor snickered and shook his head. “Fine. I’ll accept that.”

“Good,” Zoe smiled. She spun back around and began marching through the corridor to her room. She slammed the door behind her and walked over to the bed, immediately collapsing down into it. 

She groaned as she pulled off her boots and cried as it twisted her ankle in an awkward way and made her feel a stab of pain again. “I am never wearing boots again!” She snapped. While she was at it, she decided to get changed and ambled around to the closet where she pulled on, a black leather jacket and a black shirt along with a white skirt that fell just past her knees for she had no idea what time period she would be going into next, and finally some black sneakers. 

She started to turn but gasped as her skin began to burn.

“No, no, no, no!” She exclaimed. “Just let me get my money!”

But the vortex manipulator didn’t listen to her commands. The blue light on it began flashing furiously fast and before she could even try to call out for Rose at the very least, she was sucked away.


	8. Burn The Witch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed I changed the rating on this story. No need to worry! Nothing has changed massively from the previous chapters (I did go back and edit them a bit because my grammar was quite sad), I just decided I didn't want to include certain mature bits that I had originally planned on including.

Zoe could see where she was falling this time before she fell to it and it scared her to death. She was speeding right towards a large body of water and there was no way for her to try and move to the solid ground because she wasn’t anywhere close to it. She didn’t notice anything else going on though it was just about as dire as her circumstance. She did the only thing she could when she was being faced with a rapid plummet into the water, she screamed at the top of her lungs and then once she got close enough, she held her breath.

The water slapped hard against her and Zoe immediately tore off her jacket so that she could swim better. However, the moment she opened her eyes she saw two other people underwater with her. One was an older woman in what looked to be an old fashioned nightie and the other looked exactly like the image on her wall of the thirteenth Doctor. 

The Doctor spotted her at about the same time Zoe had spotted her and let out a scream underwater, looking at her with wide eyes for a moment.

Zoe shyly waved and the Doctor grinned at her before waving furiously to the woman who seemed to be slipping into unconsciousness.

Zoe got the message fast. They had to save that woman.

She swam over to the Doctor’s side, tying her jacket around her waist as she did so. She started untying the ropes keeping the woman’s left arm tied to the tree branch while the Doctor worked on the woman’s right arm. Once they both finished the undid the chains around the woman’s waist together.

The Doctor waved Zoe towards the woman’s left side and Zoe grabbed the woman’s arm while the Doctor grabbed the woman’s right side so they could swim her out of the water. 

They dragged the woman out onto dry land and Zoe took that moment to quickly absorb her surroundings.

There was a crowd around what looked to be a lake that they had dunked the woman into and a woman in red old-fashioned clothing stood above the rest of the crowd yelling something Zoe barely paid attention to, but she did catch the word “Satan” in the shouts. That must mean this was a witch trial. Zoe placed her hands on her knees, gasping for air while the Doctor hovered over the woman they had saved.

“Doctor, we’re here!” A voice cried and a woman with black hair and a blue shirt with a star on it came running towards them. Zoe narrowed her eyes. That looked like Yasmin Khan which meant the older man by her side was Graham O’Brien and the man next to him running up with what looked to be the Doctor’s coat was Ryan Sinclair. “So that was Zoe that fell into the water,” she sighed.

“You will be punished for your interference!” the woman above the crowd hollered. “And you have appeared from thin air to assist in destroying the trials which are the will of God! Thirty- five witches we have tried and yet this can only be the work of Satan which means you must be one of his witches!”

Zoe rolled her eyes and looked down as Yasmin took off her glove to take the pulse of the woman they had pulled from the water. One minute she’s being knighted as a dame the next she’s being called a witch. That seemed about right.

“Is she alive?!” A voice from the crowd cried and Zoe looked to see a young woman next to tears watching them. Her heart clenched. 

Yasmin looked up at the pair of them and solemnly shook her head. Zoe squeezed her eyes shut while the Doctor took a shaky breath and looked to the young woman in the crowd.

“I’m sorry!” She called.

“Now we have no way of knowing if Mother Twiston was a witch or not!” the woman above the crowd barked. “Guards, whip these wanderers off this bank and then seize the woman who appeared from thin air and Willa Twiston. We can take no chance.”

The Doctor immediately shoved Zoe behind her. “Leave them alone. I’d bet my life none of these women are witches. But you, Mistress Savage, are without question, a murderer,” she snapped and Zoe beamed at her.

The Doctor was proper beautiful when she was protective. She wasn’t certain if it was just this face that had that beauty but it was a sight to behold and made her heart flutter ever so slightly. 

“Who are you to address me this way?!” Mistress Savage huffed as she marched down from her little podium with guards on either side of her and walked up to the Doctor. The guards had their swords out ready to attack their group if only Mistress Savage said the word.

“I’ll tell you who I am,” the Doctor hummed. She fished around in her pockets but came up empty and Zoe frowned, curious to what she might be looking for. The Doctor winced. “Sorry,” she murmured, heading over to the coat Ryan was holding and pulling out the psychic paper. She flashed it immediately into Mistress Savage’s face.

Mistress Savage furrowed her brows at the paper. “Witchfinder General?”

“That’s right,” the Doctor smiled, glancing back at the psychic paper briefly before shoving it into her pocket. “Witchfinder General, with my crack team, taking over this village. Right, gang?” She smirked, glancing behind her to nod to the group. 

There was a moment of silence as they all exchanged awkward looks uncertain how that might work. It was Graham who broke their uncomfortable silence eventually trying his best to add to the lie. 

“Yeah, cos you are in special measures,” Graham murmured.

“Now do you recognize our authority?” the Doctor challenged with a raised brow.

Mistress Savage dropped into a small curtsey. “I do beg your pardon, Mistress Witchfinder. Please, come to my home. We must talk in private.” At her words, the guards sheathed their swords. 

“If you swear not to hurt Zoe, or anyone else,” the Doctor insisted, glaring at Mistress Savage and Zoe felt her stomach to a little flip at the Doctor’s words.

Who didn’t love being protected?

“But, Mistress Witchfinder,” Mistress Savage frowned. “This woman appeared out of thin air and fell into our trial right as we were drowning the witch. Surely, you must find that suspicious.”

The Doctor winced. “She, She was using new witch finding technology to attempt to stop the trial by order of the King,” she lied fairly well. “Her appearance was meant to be a distraction.”

Mistress Savage didn’t look entirely convinced. She turned to try and get a better look at Zoe and the Doctor only pushed Zoe directly behind her back, holding her in place so Zoe couldn’t move an inch and accidentally reveal herself to Mistress Savage. Mistress Savage took a deep breath and nodded, likely thinking better than to question her superior. “If this is your wish, you have the command,” she assured the Doctor with a small bow. 

The Doctor nodded, taking a deep breath and turning to the crowd still watching the whole scene unfold. “Everybody, go home!” the Doctor called. “This trial is over!”

The crowd dispersed but the young woman, Willa, sat there silent tears streaming down her cheeks. “I have to bury her,” she said, her voice cracking slightly as she spoke.

The Doctor sighed shakily and nodded, turning to Zoe. “Zoe?” She implored with a raised brow.

Zoe simply nodded and picked the woman up bridal style, struggling for a moment before she found her grip and carried her around to Willa. She placed the woman down before Willa with a soft breath and when she rose up to look at the young woman, it was with weary brown eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured. “I know that doesn’t help, but more than anything I wish I could have saved her.”

Willa gave her a thin smile and nodded as she knelt down before the woman to properly say goodbye. 

Zoe headed back to the others as they were starting to leave to head to Mistress Savage’s house. 

The Doctor was walking beside Mistress Savage in conversation, so Zoe ran up to Yasmin, Ryan, and Graham. “Alright, you lot, so this is my first trip seeing any of you so I’m gonna need quick introductions,” she said. She couldn’t exactly tell them she knew all their names because their pictures were on her wall. That sounded extremely creepy.

The three of them shared absolutely confused looks. 

“What do you mean?” Yasmin frowned. “We met you the same time we met the Doctor. Gonna be honest, you help me understand quite a bit about all of this.”

“Yeah, and me,” Graham nodded. 

“Me too,” Ryan agreed.

“Damn,” Zoe muttered. “The Doctor didn’t explain it to you. I mean I’ll give it my best but you’ll have to ask her if you have any questions, sorry,” she winced. “Okay so, this thing on my wrist is a vortex manipulator. It plops me all over time and space within the Doctor’s timeline and just because future me met you doesn’t mean I’ll always know you. This is only my fourth trip with this thing, and I’ve never met you lot before. In fact, I don’t know half the things future me knows. I’m starting to get a grip on how things work but she understands all the sciencey stuff that I don’t yet.”

“So, your future is our past?” Yasmin assumed with furrowed brows.

“In a manner of speaking,” Zoe shrugged. “It’s more like everybody’s timelines are just a straight line of cause to effect and mine is dotted all over the bloody place.

“So, tomorrow we could meet a version of you that’s like five years older and then the day after it could be you the same age you are now?” Ryan guessed.

Zoe grinned and nodded. “Yes, yes, that’s it. My timeline is all over the place. And to make matters worse, my last two trips with this thing didn’t put me that close to the Doctor so I had to figure out how to get to them. This thing seems to think that the Doctor’s timeline doesn’t mean popping up next to the Doctor every time because apparently that would be too easy. It’s events surrounding the Doctor too.”

“That sounds painful,” Yasmin scoffed.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Zoe sighed. “And I’m only at the beginning with this thing. Which reminds me.” She untied her jacket from around her waist and pulled it on, wincing as it awkwardly slicked against her skin due to it being wet. “I doubt seventeenth-century witchfinders will take very kindly to this lob of technology fused to my wrist.”

“It’s fused to your wrist?!” Ryan exclaimed.

“Yep,” Zoe hummed. “I would take this off if I could,” she shrugged. “It’s fused to my skin. There’s no getting around it. No stopping it when it wants to take me somewhere. It’s maddening.”

There was a moment of silence as they walked behind the Doctor, Mistress Savage, and the guards.

“Nope,” Graham huffed. “I’m still not getting this.”

Zoe snorted and shook her head. “I dunno how else to explain this,” she chuckled softly. “You’re gonna have to ask the Doctor.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Look, I’ll explain it to you later, Graham.”

“If you say so,” Graham shrugged.

“Anyway, I’m Yasmin Khan,” Yasmin smiled, holding out her hand to Zoe. “But everyone calls me Yaz.”

Zoe grinned and shook her hand. “Good to meet you.”

“And I’m Ryan Sinclair,” Ryan said, giving her a short wave. “The bloke who doesn’t understand how you have to live is my Granddad, Graham O’Brien.”

“Oh, I didn’t know the Doctor traveled with relatives,” Zoe murmured. That wasn’t in her notes strangely. “Good to meet both of you,” she hummed and Ryan beamed at her while Graham still looked completely lost.

They fell into silence as they all began walking closer to the Doctor and Mistress Savage with one singular intention crossing their minds, they wanted to snoop.

“Please forgive me, Mistress,” Mistress Savage pleaded of the Doctor. “If I’d known who you were, I’d have bowed to your authority immediately.”

“So tell me. Who exactly are you, and what gives you authority here?” the Doctor wondered.

“I am Becka Savage, landowner of Bilehurst Cragg. It belonged to my late husband, passed to me when he died,” Mistress Savage explained. “I've tried to be a benevolent leader but it's very difficult in these times, especially for a woman.”

“If you’re the landowner, why are you walking?” the Doctor asked. “Where are the horses?”

“Horses are banned in Bilehurst. They are creatures of Satan. I had them all shot.”

Zoe and Yasmin turned to each other at the exact same moment with wide eyes. That wasn’t the nicest thing to hear.

The Doctor slowed down in her walking allowing Becka Savage to march up ahead of her while she moved to walk beside Graham, Ryan, and Yasmin.

“Hey, Doc. I've done the old Pendle Witches Walking Trail. Nobody ever mentioned Bilehurst Cragg. Never heard of it,” Graham shook his head with a small frown. 

“And she's killed thirty-five people,” Zoe hummed, staring after Becka with wide eyes.

“Thirty-six now,” Ryan corrected.

“Yeah,” Graham nodded.

“Maybe, she wipes this whole place off the map,” Ryan proposed.

“Could she really just kill everybody here and wipe it from the history books like that?” Zoe frowned.

“We’re going to find out what happened, and how we can make her stop,” the Doctor assured them. She took a deep breath and looked to the hall Becka was marching towards. “And that hall looks like the best place to start.”

“Not the only place,” Yasmin shook her head. “I want to find that girl who lost her gran.”

“Ooh, I want to come with you,” Zoe nodded. “But first, Doctor, I’ve got to talk to you.”

“Right,” the Doctor sighed. This always came every time Zoe dropped in. It was probably a ritual for the Doctor at this point. “Yaz, you go on ahead to do some family liaison. Zoe will catch up with you and then after we finish with Her Ladyship, we’ll find you. Ryan, Graham, you continue to follow Mistress Savage. If she looks back and asks where I am, just tell her I had to make a brief pitstop and I’ll be there in a mo.”

They all nodded and proceeded to do as the Doctor instructed while the Doctor placed her hand on Zoe’s shoulder and guided her away from where anybody might be able to hear her.

“Right, let’s have it.”

“Fourth trip, first time with this face. You owe me money,” she smirked.

The Doctor squeezed her eyes shut and groaned while Zoe giggled at her. “Oh, I avoided it for so long! I was beginning to think you’d forgotten,” she huffed. She paused for a second, her brows furrowed as she likely tried to remember all the way back to Zoe’s third trip. “Hold on a minute, you didn’t get a chance to wrap your ankle before ou left, did you?!” She exclaimed, glancing down at Zoe’s sneakers with wide eyes.

“It’s completely numb!” Zoe assured her with a shrug. “The only time I feel something is when I put weight on it and it’s a quick stab of pain and then it’s numb again.”

“On the foot or ankle?” the Doctor implored with a raised brow. 

Zoe cringed. “On the foot,” she murmured.

The Doctor sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Okay, when you get to Willa’s ask her for as many bandages as she can spare. Wrap your entire foot and ankle. The more you’re twisting that with swimming and walking the worse it’s going to get!”

“It’s really fine! My forehead hurts worst from that door being smashed in than the ankle.”

The Doctor rolled her eyes. “Oh, this is when it starts, isn’t it?” She moaned. “Even if it isn’t that bad, for my sake look after yourself. Honestly, if I could I’d drop you back home right now so you can recover!”

“It’s very sweet when you’re more worried than I’m worried for myself,” Zoe beamed at her, the butterflies acting up in her stomach again.

The Doctor smiled softly and shook her head. “I won’t have you killing yourself on my watch. Now, go after Yaz before you lose her,” she instructed. “I’ll catch you up.”

“Alright,” Zoe grinned. “Fair warning, while you’re at that hall Graham might ask about the vortex manipulator because I explained why I didn’t remember any of them and while Ryan and Yaz got it perfectly, Graham didn’t understand a word of it.”

The Doctor winced. “Ah, that was my bad. Should’ve explained it to them earlier. Never you mind! Head off to help with the family matters!”

“My pleasure,” Zoe beamed, curtseying to the Doctor and making the woman snort at her as she spun around and bolted towards the path Yaz had taken.

“Don’t run on that ankle, it’ll hurt y- oh, who am I kidding,” the Doctor sighed as Zoe continued to run out of earshot. “She’s so bloody reckless,” she murmured, but as she spoke, there was a grin that couldn’t quite seem to leave her face.

Zoe raced down to the village path Yaz had taken, gritting her teeth every time her ankle ached but continuing to run regardless until she caught up with Yasmin.

“Hey,” Yasmin smiled as Zoe started walking beside her. “Do you two always do that?”

“Do what?” Zoe frowned. 

“Well, go off on your own away from everybody else whenever you tell her you need to talk to her,” Yasmin shrugged. “You’ve both done it every trip I’ve been on with you so far.”

“Oh, yeah,” Zoe nodded. “It’s how we keep track. The first time I left the Doctor he told me that the most important thing was letting him know where I was in my travels. After that everything would be okay, and he was right. The Doctor always tries to make things easier on me once I explain where I’m at in my travels so I always make sure to do it.”

“Wait, ‘him’?” Yasmin frowned.

Zoe winced. “Ah, yeah, I-er- I mean-.”

“No,” Yasmin chuckled. “Don’t try to take it back. The Doctor mentioned a couple of times after she regenerated that she used to be a man but I always thought it was some strange joke. I never actually thought-.”

Zoe smiled softly. “Yeah, funnily enough just before this face she was an old angry Scottish bloke,” she giggled.

“She mentioned that!” Yasmin laughed. “I thought it was some strange joke or she was just completely mad. It’s hard to imagine someone like her being an old Scottish man.”

“Ah, the beauty of regeneration,” Zoe hummed. 

They walked through the rest of the woods together until eventually, they heard a soft, shaky voice murmuring something neither of them could make out. Silently, they gestured to each other to move closer and try and make out who was speaking and what was being said.

They crept behind the trees, careful not to step on any leaves or fallen branches to alert the person speaking.

“I will still be with you,” the person spoke softly. Zoe peered around the tree at just the right moment to see it was Willa standing over what was likely the grave for her grandmother. She was picking berries from a discarded holly wreath and throwing them into the grave while behind her there was a small wooden cart with a shovel. “In the water, in the fire. In the earth, in the air.”

Suddenly, what looked to be a muddy root or tendril began creeping up from the ground and moving towards Willa. With wide eyes, Zoe smacked Yasmin to pull her attention to it before they both bolted out towards it.

“Willa! Move!” Yasmin cried, pulling the girl far away from it as the tendril continued to lengthen.

Zoe grabbed the shovel Willa had used to dig the grave from the wooden cart and began smacking it. Yasmin ran forward and began stomping on it as best she could while Zoe continued to beat it with the shovel until it dissolved into the ground. 

Once it was gone, Yasmin turned to Willa gasping for air, but Willa was backing away from them shaking her head in fear. 

“Willa, are you alright?” Yasmin breathed.

“What was that?” Willa asked.

Yasmin glanced back at Zoe and the place in the ground the tendril had popped out of with furrowed brows. “Neither of us know.”

“We came here to try and be there for you as you buried your gran,” Zoe assured her, trying to show the girl that they meant no harm.

“We want to help,” Yasmin agreed with a nod.

Willa continued to back away, shaking her head at the pair of them. “You can’t,” she huffed. “Nobody can.” At that, she turned and bolted away from them.

“Wait!” Yasmin cried. “Willia!” She started to try and run after her, but Zoe grabbed her arm and shook her head.

“Best not chase her down when she’s probably still freaked out by whatever the hell that thing was,” Zoe said, gesturing back at the tendril they had beaten to death. “We should go back to the Doctor and tell her what happened then see if she can help.”  
Yasmin furrowed her brows, clearly upset that they couldn’t go after Willa right away but nodded in agreement, sighing as she turned back to the trail they had taken to find Willa. It was for the best.

“Oh, look at this,” Zoe moaned, glancing down at the mud on her white skirt. “First, I get these new clothes sopping wet then I get mud from some creepy living tendril all over me.”

Yasmin looked down and cringed at her black jeans covered in mud as well. “Oh, I got it too,” she muttered, attempting to swipe at it but it seemed to already begin setting into her clothes.

“Traveling with the Doctor is turning out to be one of the dirtiest jobs of them all,” Zoe chortled and Yasmin laughed.

They headed back to the hall but found it was extremely difficult to avoid Becka Savage and her guards while trying to find the Doctor, Ryan, and Graham. They had several near misses of almost being caught and both had to work with the other relentlessly to ensure they didn’t get caught. Eventually, they found the room the Doctor, Ryan, Graham were hiding in.

Once Zoe and Yasmin burst into the room, all three of them lurched forward ready to attack the person coming into the room if they posed any danger but quickly relaxed when they saw the faces running into the room.

“Here you are!” Yaz exclaimed. “We’ve been creeping around this place looking for you. We found that girl Willa at her granny's grave doing some kind of ritual, and the next thing we know, this big kind of mud tendril thing attacked her.”

The Doctor was immediately intrigued, putting all her focus on Zoe and Yasmin. “Mud tendril?” She gasped.

“We had to smash it to pieces but it got all over us,” Zoe nodded, gesturing to the mud on Yasmin’s jeans and her skirt. The Doctor promptly pulled out his sonic and began scanning the mud on Zoe’s skirt. 

“It was coming up out of the ground,” Yasmin said.

“Just one mud tendril?” the Doctor frowned. “How big? And when you say ritual, do you mean like a spell? Like she conjured it up?”

“It was just the one,” Zoe assured her with a shake of her head. “And it was about the width of my forearm towards the bottom but it got skinner the taller it was. It kept growing the taller until we started smashing it to bits.”

“And she was scared of it,” Yasmin told the Doctor. “Whatever it was, it wasn’t friendly.”

The Doctor peered at the readings from the mud on her sonic screwdriver. “Just seems to be like good, old-fashioned Lancashire mud,” she hummed. “Here's the plan. The three of us need to check out that mud and talk to Willa,” she said, gesturing between herself, Zoe, and Yasmin. “You two, stick with Becka and King James. Keep them here. Make sure they don't kill anyone else,” she instructed Ryan and Graham.

“King James?” Yasmin frowned.

“Hold on, King James is here?” Zoe asked with wide brown eyes as she looked between the Doctor, Ryan, and Graham.

“It’s a long story,” the Doctor sighed. “I’ll explain it on the way, but he’s not half as interesting as Queen Victoria,” she assured Zoe. “Remember, no more witch hunts,” she told Ryan and Graham, wagging her finger at them.

With that, the Doctor placed her hands on Zoe’s shoulders and spun her out of the room while Yasmin held open the door for them. They headed out of the hall, narrowly avoiding Becka Savage as she ran to get some torture weapons she used against innocent women she called witches. Once they were out of the house and marching through the field to the path Zoe and Yasmin took, Zoe turned to the Doctor with furrowed brows.

“Is King James really worse than Queen Victoria knighting us and exiling us on the same day?” Zoe muttered.

“Hold on, you got knighted and exiled on the same day?” Yasmin frowned. “How do you even do that?”

“Another long story,” the Doctor hummed. “The point is King James appeared in Becka’s house in some mask and named Graham the Witchfinder General instead of me, I mean what is that. He said a woman couldn’t possibly do the job,” she scoffed. 

“Gods, it is quite the trip seeing you experience sexism for the first time,” Zoe chortled. Once they reached where Zoe and Yasmin had found Willa, they began leading the Doctor down the path Willa took when running away from them and the tendril, hoping that they might find Willa’s home along the way.

“It’s awful!” the Doctor exclaimed only making Zoe giggle harder. “He called me a wee lassie,” she cringed. “But my point is, he was all for helping Becka to kill everyone here to try and purge Satan from the town.”

“So, it might be like Ryan said,” Yasmin nodded. “This place gets wiped off the map.”

“Well, with the murder twins and living mud tendrils in this town, it doesn’t seem surprising that something that awful happened,” Zoe sighed.

“Only it’s our job to keep it from being awful,” the Doctor insisted. She nodded to a house at the end of the lane. “Here, this must be Willa’s house,” she said and as if to prove her point Willa walked out with a bag full of items and her cloak on.

“Willa,” Yasmin gasped.

Willa took one look at the three of them and promptly tried to walk away.

“My name’s Yaz,” Yasmin said, stopping Willa in her tracks. “This is the Doctor, and this is Zoe. Where are you going?” She asked, her voice becoming surprisingly soft when she said the question to Willa.

“As far away from here as I can,” Willa huffed, looking between the women warily.

“I don’t blame you,” the Doctor said, tiptoeing forward cautiously so she wouldn’t alarm Willia. Zoe smiled at the sight. That’s why she knew the Doctor would be able to talk to Willa without alarming her as Zoe and Yasmin had done accidentally. It was one of the things Zoe was beginning to love about the Doctor, they knew how to be both the gentlest and softest person capable of saying just the right things to people in times of distress as well as the most extravagant and surprising person she had ever met. Zoe couldn’t help but feel like she was being dragged into the pull of the Doctor falling for each of their faces and incapable of stopping herself.

“But before you do, can we talk to you first?” the Doctor asked Willa softly. “We’re not witchfinders. We just want to find out exactly what’s going on here, and maybe we can fix things.”

“Can you help us, Willa?” Yasmin asked. “Because we want to help you.”

Willa hesitated for a few momenta, watching them and squirming where she stood like she really just wanted to bolt out of that town and never look back, but mercifully, she sighed and turned back to her house, opening the door for them.

“Come on,” Willa huffed.

Willa was a saint when Zoe mentioned her issues with her foot. She dropped her bags by the door and rose to her toes, pulling several glass bottles off as well as a roll of bandage wraps. She nodded for Zoe to sit down in one of her wooden chairs while she unscrewed the caps from the glass bottles.

Zoe took off her shoe and sock, wincing as it twisted her ankle awkwardly once again.

The Doctor peered around at all the glass bottles Willa had laid out across the house. “Wow!” She gasped. “Are these all yours?”

“They were my grandmother’s,” Willa said, pouring some amber liquid from one of the glass bottles onto her hand and spreading it around Zoe’s ankle. “She made medicines to help people. She wasn’t a witch. Everyone knows that.”

“So why did Beck go after her?” Zoe wondered, furrowing her brows at Willa.

“I don’t know,” Willa shrugged. “Maybe, she was ashamed of the woman who brought her up.”

“Wait,” the Doctor muttered, her eyes widening. “You and Becka are family?”

Willa picked up another glass bottle and this time spread a rose-colored liquid, not just over Zoe’s ankle but over her foot as well. This liquid was cold and Zoe grit her teeth to avoid squirming her foot as Willa reached for the bandage wraps. “Cousins,” Willa nodded. “We were all close, till Becka married up. Left us all behind. Still, I thought we'd be safe when the witch hunts started. Then it just got worse and worse. Everyone turning on each other. Granny said it was only a matter of time before they turned on us. I didn't believe her,” she sighed softly, hanging her head. She finished wrapping up Zoe’s foot as the three women shard sad looks about Willa feeling for her and what she had been through. “Here, you should be sorted.”

“Thank you so much,” Zoe smiled, finally feeling comfortable placing her foot on the ground.

“The first thing I put on should help relax your ankle so it doesn’t keep twisting and the second should help with the numbness,” Willa explained.

“You’re a blessing, truly,” Zoe insisted. 

“Thank you for looking after her,” the Doctor nodded.

“Yeah, well,” Willa sighed as she rose to her feet. “I learned it all from my granny.”

She headed over to the fireplace and grabbed a few bottles from the table beside it, dumbing the contents of the bottles into a kettle and placing the kettle over the fireplace.

While she worked on whatever she was making, the Doctor headed over to Zoe and knelt beside her while Zoe pulled her sock and shoe back on. 

“Let’s not make a habit out of this, yeah?” the Doctor implored, placing a soft hand on Zoe’s foot.

Zoe snorted and rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to make any promises. Let’s just hope I don’t break anything because of you. I’ve never broken a bone in my body no matter how reckless I’ve gotten and I’d like to keep that record, thank you very much.”

She looked down and found the Doctor staring at her with something in her eyes that Zoe could almost believe was longing if she were in some cheesy romance novel. Whatever it was, it stopped her breath in her chest and she found herself looking at the Doctor the same exact way. It only lasted a few seconds but it felt like an eternity until the Doctor squeezed her eyes shut and returned to beaming at Zoe.

“Let’s see if you can put weight on that foot now, eh?” the Doctor grinned. She held out her hand and though Zoe felt like the center of her heart had just been stabbed by a needle, she faked a smile and accepted the Doctor’s hand to pull herself to her feet. Zoe landed on her feet without needing to grit her teeth or cringe at the stabs of pain, though it did feel weird feeling an absence of pain in her foot and ankle. “That’s more like it!” the Doctor exclaimed with a smile as she noticed the same thing and Zoe beamed at her.

Meanwhile, Willa poured drinks from the kettle for all of them into proffered pottery mugs. “Here,” she said, offering two mugs to the Doctor and Zoe. “Granny’s special tea,” she explained while she handed a mug to Yasmin. “It soothes the soul.”

Yasmin looked to the Doctor and Zoe with a raised brow, silently asking if she should drink it. Even the Doctor seemed a bit cautious.

“Unless you think I’m a witch,” Willa smirked, clearly noticing their apprehension.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Zoe huffed, immediately downing the tea.

“Are you not having any?” the Doctor asked.

Willa sighed softly and shook her head as she clutched her stomach. “I feel too sick.”

The Doctor furrowed her brows and placed the mug down on the table beside her before pulling out her sonic screwdriver. “Do you mind if I check you over? Don’t worry I am a doctor.”

When Willa raised no objection, the Doctor used the sonic to scan her and it whirred as it took her readings. 

“What’s that?” Willa asked with a small frown.

“Er, specialist equipment,” the Doctor muttered, shrugging as she spoke.

Willa took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “That movement in the mud. It was Satan, wasn’t it?”

“I doubt it,” the Doctor scoffed. “Not a big believer in Satan.”

“My granny used to say there was enough wonder in nature without making things up.”

“I loke your granny,” the Doctor smiled. She pulled back her sonic and looked at the readings. “Completely normal,” she announced. “No magic, and no signs of sickness.”

Willa scoffed as though the idea that she could be completely healthy was ridiculous. “You’re wrong.”

“Sometimes it’s not always a proper illness that makes you sick,” Zoe suggested.

“I think I know what it is that's making you sick. I had it at my school, where I am from. When Izzy Flint turned the whole class against me. Every day I'd wake up, feeling this... dread. Fear,” Yasmin hummed.

“How did you get rid of it?” Willa asked. 

“I didn't,” Yasmin shrugged. “I just took it, had the year from hell. When I say hell, I don't literally mean hell, I mean it was really awful. And I told myself when I got bigger, I'd stand up to the Izzy Flints of this world.”

“I can’t stand up to Becka!” Willa snapped. “She’ll have me tried for a witch. What am I meant to do?”

“Seems to me like you have two choices,” the Doctor sighed. “Run as far away from here as possible, or stick with us,” she smirked. “We'll stand up to Becka Savage and we'll make this place safe again.”

“How do we do that?” Willa wondered.

The Doctor beamed and looked to Zoe as Zoe grinned when they both noted Willa’s word choice.

“Ah! We! That's good, Willa!” the Doctor exclaimed.

“You’re starting to think like a team,” Zoe observed with a smirk.

“See? It feels better already,” the Doctor nodded. “Now, first things first. We need to get a sample of that mud.” She paused as she noticed an empty small glass bottle on the table with a cork in it. “Oh. Can I use this?” Willa simply nodded. “Want to come with us?”

“Not really,” Willa said, but she spoke with a smile and Zoe snorted.

“That smile tells me you’re coming,” Zoe hummed and the Doctor and Yasmin snicked as Willa turned bright red.   
  



	9. Arrest the Witch

“Just mud,” the Doctor huffed as she continued to scan the ground. “No sign of any tendency to tendril. Shouldn’t be disappointed but I am a bit.”

Zoe heard Yasmin sigh to her right and march behind her towards Willa.

“What was that ritual you were doing before the tendril arrived?” Yasmin asked.

“A prayer, to help my grandmother rest in peace,” Willa explained. “I brought her body here, I dug that grave and placed her in it, but I didn't get to finish the prayer.”

Zoe took a deep breath and knelt down beside the Doctor while she continued to scan the mud. “I don’t know what made it jump out,” she frowned. “It’s only going to come up as ordinary mud on the sonic, isn’t it?”

“Maybe,” the Doctor murmured. “Or if we manage to get our hands on a live bit of the mud it could show up as something totally different. The mud I scanned on you was already dead.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Zoe mumbled.

“I think the sonic has too much conflicting with the living mud,” the Doctor hummed. “I need a small sample for it to scan and then maybe we can get somewhere.”

“Good thing we brought this,” Zoe smiled, pulling the glass bottle out of her jacket pocket and handing it to the Doctor.

The Doctor flashed a quick grin at her before she took a small bit of the dirt from the ground and placed it into her glass bottle. “Right, little sample,” the Doctor sighed as she rose to her feet and Zoe promptly followed. “What aren’t you tell me?”

It only took a few seconds before the little clump of mud began to leap around the glass bottle furiously searching for a way out.

“Whoa!” the Doctor exclaimed with wide eyes and a large smile. “I am no longer disappointed!”

“See?!” Yasmin exclaimed, running up to them as soon as the mud started jumping around the bottle. “The mud is alive.”

“Well, now I am not sure it’s mud at all,” the Doctor hummed.

“Alien?” Zoe guessed.

“Probably,” the Doctor nodded.

“Looks pretty angry in there,” Yasmin remarked with a small frown.

“Yaz,” Willa gasped a few feet away and Yasmin immediately ran to her side.

“Obviously doesn't like being trapped, do you?” the Doctor mumbled. “What are you? Give us a clue.”

“What’s happening?” Willa gasped.

Zoe furrowed her brows, finding herself curious about what was going on. She peered around the Doctor and felt her heart stop in her chest when she saw what looked to be Willa’s grandmother, but covered in mud with pitch-black eyes, just staring at them like some sort of muddy zombie.

“It’s definitely some kind of alien matter, but I’m not sure if it’s sentient,” the Doctor hummed.

“Doctor,” Zoe breathed. “Look behind you,” she said, tugging on the Doctor’s sleeve as she spoke.

“Why?” the Doctor asked as she spun around and froze the second she spotted the mud version of Willa’s grandmother.

“Granny!” Willa cried.

“That is not your granny, Willa,” the Doctor gasped.

“Yes, it is,” Willa insisted, her eyes filling up with tears as she spoke.

“What is it, Doctor?” Zoe murmured, unable to pull her eyes away from the reanimated version of Willa’s grandmother.

“That’s the not mud,” the Doctor answered. “Some sort of alien matter filling her body and re-animating it. So it is pretty sentient. I am so sorry for this, Willa,” she sighed before she began to creep past the three women and around the reanimated lady so she could properly speak to the creature inside Willa’s granny. “Hi, Not Willa's Granny. I presume you're just using the body to give whatever you are form. Better than tendrils, right? But really not right. Not cool.”

Zoe’s eyes widened as she finally realized just what made that creature jump out at Willa. “That must be why it went after Willa!” She exclaimed. She had taken to shielding Yasmin from the creature while Yasmin shielded Willa, and she wasn’t certain if either of them had thought about what they were doing before they did it. A side effect of traveling with the Doctor, she supposed. Knowing the risks of what you do, you guard those who were innocent and just going about their daily lives when they were thrust into this.

The Doctor gasped at Zoe’s words as the realization hit her simultaneously. “Of course! Not to kill her, but to fill her. Ooo,” she smiled. “Check out my rhymes, poetry under pressure,” she hummed and Zoe giggled at her. The creature made a grab for the glass bottle with the not mud in it. “Oh, what are you doing?” the Doctor asked, stepping back to keep the bottle away from the creature. “You want this? It’s one of you, is it? Or part of you?” The creature tried to grab for the bottle again. “No, no, no, no. Not until you tell us what's going on here,” the Doctor snapped. The creature held out its hands as though the Doctor would throw the bottle to it, but the Doctor simply winced at its palms. “Urgh, don't like the look of your hands. It's all bubbling away inside you, isn't it?” The creature lurched forward but this time instead of grabbing at the bottle, it grabbed at the Doctor. “Oh no, you're not filling me. If you're that desperate for it, here, have it.”

The Doctor tossed the bottle to the creature and it shoved the bottle in its mouth whole, glass and all. 

Zoe winced as she heard the glass shatter in its mouth. “Gross.”

“Oh,” the Doctor cringed. “Delightful,” she said sarcastically. “Down the hatch. I've got so many questions right now, like, did you drink that or absorb it? Are you all one big muddy mass, or separate entities, only taking the one body?”

Behind her, Yasmin sucked in a sharp breath. “Look,” she said, nudging Zoe.

Zoe looked past the Doctor and gulped harshly when she saw several mud bodies standing almost patiently staring at them.

“Doctor, behind you again,” Zoe called shakily.

The Doctor slowly turned around and when she saw all the bodies, she promptly took a single step back. “Always good to get fast answers,” she gasped.

The bodies began moving towards them and the Doctor started stumbling back. Zoe’s eyes scanned the area for a way out but she, Yaz, and Willa were all pushed up against a tree and Not-Willa’s grandmother was blocking their only clean exit. But luckily, the cart Willa had used to carry her grandmother and a shovel was still there and Zoe could likely reach it without one of those creatures filling her. 

Yasmin let out a loud scream as the creatures drew nearer. Once the Doctor got close enough Zoe bolted towards the cart and didn’t stop for a second as she dragged the cart towards them, refusing to allow one of the creatures to catch her simply because she paused. Zoe positioned the cart so it was right between them and the creatures and the Doctor beamed at her.

“Way to think on your toes,” the Doctor remarked and Zoe’s stomach did that funny flip again.

However, despite the obstacle, the creatures kept trying to move towards them. The Doctor sighed softly, rolling her eyes as the creatures moved like zombies towards the four women. “Stay back, please,” the Doctor begged. “I’ve given you the blob. What more do you need?” She paused waiting for an answer but to her dismay, the creatures gave none. “So annoying when they are silent,” she huffed.

Zoe chortled lightly and nodded, pulling the shovel out of the cart barricading them in just in case she had to whack the creatures away. 

All of a sudden, the group they had left behind at the hall came running towards them, and a man Zoe didn’t recognize but if she had to take a guess based on his paintings could only be King James, pointed an accusatory finger at them. “Witchcraft!” He bellowed.

“Oh, here we go again,” Zoe moaned, rolling her eyes at the King.

“So much for keeping that lot in the house,” the Doctor sighed. 

“Stay where you are!” King James barked.

“As if we have much of a choice,” Zoe muttered to Yasmin who snorted and nodded.

“Hi, sire!” the Doctor exclaimed with an awkward smile. “I know it looks bad, but don’t worry. I’m all over it.”

“Willa Twiston and the woman you have protected were witches all along!” Becka Savage shouted. “I knew it!”

“For crying out loud, I’m not a witch!” Zoe shouted.

“Neither am I,” Willa nodded. “This isn’t me, Becka, I swear.”

“They’re right,” the Doctor nodded. “It’s not them and it’s not witchcraft. I’m working it out,” she said as she pulled out his sonic once again to scan the mud creatures.

“This is beyond you,” King James huffed. “Alfonso,” he called to the man standing by his side. “Shoot them.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Alfonso hummed, marching towards them quickly and whipping out his gun.

“No! Alfonso! Don’t!” the Doctor cried.

“That’s really not a good idea, Alfonso!” Zoe called.

“In the air and in the earth,” Not-Willa’s grandmother cried before shooting out an invisible force that threw Alfonso across the ground quite forcibly.

“Alfonso,” King James gasped, staring down at the immobile man with wide eyes.

The creatures slowly began to turn to King James and the other seeming to just notice their presence because of Alfonso and consider them a threat.

“Now you’ve made them angry. They’re getting stronger. Everybody out of here!” the Doctor shouted. Because the creatures were distracted by the others, the Doctor, Zoe, Yaz, and Willa were all able to escape and run out with minimal difficulty. “Get away from them now!” She yelled to the others.

“We must protect you, sire,” Becka Savage gasped. “Back through the forest.”

They all turned tail and ran as fast and as hard as they could back into the forest, darting through the trees in the hopes of losing the creatures.

Zoe started to look back but the Doctor just grabbed her arm and started to run even faster. “Keep running,” she instructed. They ran for a few more minutes before they eventually reached a small clearing they could stop at. “This clearing, through here.”

“I don’t think they’re following,” Yasmin gasped as she looked back.

“If they’re not following, what are they doing?” the Doctor frowned. 

“Want me to go back and look with somebody?” Zoe asked with a raised brow and the Doctor smiled so softly at her, Zoe almost melted right there.

“We escape from Satan, and you wish to go directly back into battle?” King James scoffed at her.

“We need to know what they’re up to,” Ryan insisted. “Make sure no one else is in danger.”

The Doctor nodded. “Ryan, you take Yaz and check what they’re up to,” she instructed.

“I’ll go too,” Graham said. “Keep an eye on the… underlings,” he mumbled awkwardly, glancing back and forth between King James and Ryan as though checking that the King was believing him but making sure not to offend his grandson.

“Very well,” King James mumbled.

“We’ll stay with Willa,” the Doctor called to Ryan, Yaz, and Graham as they started to head back to the creatures. “Be careful!”

“What were those aberrations?” King James huffed as soon as the trio was gone.

“Don’t say the work of Satan,” Zoe moaned.

“It is the work of Satan!” Becka snapped.

“Oh, I’m so tired of hearing every little strange thing blamed on Satan,” Zoe sighed.

“It wasn't Satan or witches or Willa's granny. Those creatures were being controlled by something in the mud, something not of this earth. Something beyond your understanding,” the Doctor told them.

“Something from hell,” King James assumed with wide eyes.

“More like from the heavens,” the Doctor smiled softly, looking up to the sky. “It chose to kill Alfonso when he was a threat, but in other circumstances, it fills the body and uses them as vessels.”

“But why?” Zoe asked. “Why does it fill those bodies?”

“I don’t know why,” the Doctor shook her head. “Maybe, only when they’re dead?” She proposed with furrowed brows.

“No, because it went after Willa and she’s still perfectly alive,” Zoe reminded her.

The Doctor cringed as her theory fell flat. “Wait, and also, why today?” She wondered. “Cos this is my problem. I can buy that this is the biggest witch hunt ever in England, or I can buy that it’s an alien mud invasion. But both on the same day? I can’t buy that.”

“Why is she speaking of commerce?” King James frowned.

“I don’t know,” Becka mumbled, shrugged at the King and Zoe snorted.

“Oh, wait,” the Doctor gasped as her eyes widened. “Unless they’re connected,” she said, turning to Becka Savage. “Your witch hunt’s been going on for a while now, so there’s no way that mud has just rocked up today. What do you know, Becka? What’s going on here in Bilehurst Cragg? A woman who keeps an ax by her bed. What have you seen?”

Becka looked absolutely petrified of the Doctor’s interrogation, her eyes flicking across the entire group furiously before landing back on the Doctor. “I have seen you defend that woman who can only be Satan’s associate,” she spat at the Doctor, waving towards Zoe who rolled her eyes. “I have seen you with your wand, raising your kin from the dead.”

King James’s eyes widened as though Becka had finally given him an outlet to funnel all his fear into one of his favorite hobbies. “Oh, yes!” He exclaimed.

“What?” the Doctor frowned, stumbling a few steps backward. “No! Hold on a sec.”

“I’m so sick of being accused of being a witch because of something I can’t control,” Zoe groaned.

“You are no witchfinders assistant,” Becka insisted, way too happy she was getting her way to slow down now. “You are Satan’s acolytes,” she spat.

“We are not!” the Doctor snapped.

“That’s why it’s happening today because you are here, as you say, to take over this village,” Becka hissed.

“You know that’s not what I meant. We do not have time for this.”

“Mistress Savage is correct,” King James nodded, adding fuel to the fire. “You both are to blame for Alfonso’s death.”

“How are we to blame for that?!” Zoe scoffed.

“We tried to save him,” the Doctor snapped.

“You saved  _ them  _ from being shot,” King James retorted. “You said this evil fell from the heavens. Oh yes, it fell, like your lord Lucifer!”

“Honestly, if I was still a bloke, I could get on with the job and not have to waste time defending myself,” the Doctor huffed to Zoe.

“You really could,” Zoe agreed with a light chuckle.

“Oh, you both bewitch us with your alluring forms and your incessant jabber, but I knew you were unnatural from the very start,” King James said, wagging his finger at the Doctor like a parent trying to gloat that they worked out when you were lying. “And now I see you for what you really are.”

“They were trying to save us, sire,” Willa tried to defend them.

“Thank you, Willa,” the Doctor gasped.

“Yes,” Zoe sighed. “Finally, someone on our side here.”

“Are you sure you’re not mistaken, Willa?” Becky asked in a tone that was far sweeter than Zoe had seen her use to address Willa since they got there. Was she gaslighting her cousin? “Or are you in league with the witches as I first suspected?”

“She said she wanted to help me,” Willa insisted, gesturing to the Doctor.

“Who do you trust to save you? Your King? Your family? Whatever I have done, I did to save all of our souls,” Becka assured her.

“What’s really going on, Becka?” the Doctor tried to ask.

“Hold your tongue or I will cut it out,” King James snapped, whipping out a knife and pointing it at the Doctor. “Tell the truth, lassie.”

Becka glanced around the group with wide worried eyes and Zoe knew in an instant that she was going to dig Zoe and the Doctor’s graves.

“I-I did see her appear from nowhere in the sky,” she said, nodding to Becka. “And I did think it was strange when they said her name was the Doctor.” 

“Like Doctor Dee,” King James gasped with wide eyes. “A necromancer. That seals it. Arrest the witches!” He cried.

King James’s guards moved from out of the trees and wrapped their arm around the Doctor and Zoe.

“I am not a witch!” the Doctor cried. 

“Let me go!” Zoe hollered, to no avail.

* * *

They tied the Doctor and Zoe up on separate wooden posts with quite a lot of rope, so much so that Zoe was certain she would be getting rope burn once she got out.

“Well, this is quite the turn of events,” Zoe hummed.

The Doctor snorted and shook her head. “Remember back with my ninth face when we talked about what happens if I get arrested?”

“I’m gonna be honest, I never thought we’d actually get arrested,” Zoe smiled. “Though getting arrested for witchcraft is certainly a once in a lifetime experience.”

“Yeah, because you hardly ever get to make it out,” the Doctor winced.

“Oh, way to be a Debby Downer,” Zoe moaned.

“Well!” the Doctor exclaimed and Zoe laughed.

Just then, King James marched over to their wooden posts, narrowing his eyes at them and moving to where he could comfortably see and speak to both of them.

“Comfortable, witches?” King James implored with a raised brow.

“Oh, yeah!” Zoe chuckled. “The weather is lovely here, I’ve got a nice breeze on my face. I’m having a grand old time.”

The Doctor laughed while King James just furrowed his brows at her. “I do hope not,” he hummed.

“Have you come for a visit?” the Doctor asked.

“I shall take my opportunity to converse with agents of Satan,” King James said simply.

“If we were Satan’s agents, do you think a bit of rope could stop us?” the Doctor frowned. “I say a bit, quite a lot,” she shrugged, looking up at the rope tying her hands together. “Tightly bound. It’s pretty painful. They know how to die a knot in this part of the world,” she told Zoe with a smirk and Zoe couldn’t stop giggling making the Doctor beam at her.

“I am an expert on witchcraft, Doctor, but I wish to know more. Before you die, I want answers,” he said. He pulled the Doctor’s sonic out of his coat and held it out. “Your wand. How does it work?”

The Doctor narrowed her eyes at her sonic then back at him. “What do you want to know?”

“I wish to know all the secrets of the universe,” King James hummed.

Zoe scoffed and dropped her head back on the wooden post. “Doesn’t everybody?”

“But true knowledge has to be earned,” the Doctor nodded. “Tell you what. I’ll trade you my wand for answers to as many questions as you want to ask.”

King James rolled his eyes and stepped back ensuring the sonic was out of the Doctor’s grasp. “I am not a fool, Doctor. I am King James, Satan’s greatest foe.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” the Doctor sighed. “It must be comforting playing that role, hiding behind a title.”

King James smirked strangely at her. “Just as you hide behind Doctor, perhaps,” he hummed.

Zoe saw the Doctor was quickly affected by his words and without a moment of hesitation, she stepped in where the Doctor couldn’t. “You hold yourself in such high regard, King James. Proclaim yourself as King and Satan’s enemy, and yet underneath it all, you must be so scared,” Zoe hummed. King James stumbled back a few steps and Zoe smiled, clearly, her words had an effect. It was easy enough to work out. Anybody desperate to portray themselves as powerful and important had to be hiding some serious insecurities. It was the theme nearly everywhere you looked. People sought out power when they felt like something in them was lacking.

“Who are you, really, behind the mask, the drama?” the Doctor implored. “What does it say on your garter?” She asked, looking down at his garter.

“Evil be to him that evil thinks,” King James answered.

“Evil be to him that evil thinks,” the Doctor repeated with a nod. “You wear it like a hero, even though you’re killing and scapegoating and stirring up hate. And you wonder why the darkness comes back at you.”

“The darkness isn’t just attacking you at this point, mate. It’s within you,” Zoe hummed.

“There is no darkness in me,” King James scoffed. “I quest for goodness and knowledge, beauty and art, all of God’s virtues.”

“Your own mother was scapegoated,” the Doctor spat. “How do you square that with your witch hunts?”

“What do you know of my mother?!” King James exclaimed.

Zoe winced as the skin around her vortex manipulator began to burn again. “Oh, no,” she groaned. “Not now.”

“You could have seen her before she died, but you didn’t want to. Why?” the Doctor continued, clearly not hearing Zoe.

“Doctor!” Zoe called, breaking her from the conversation. 

The Doctor turned to her with furrowed brows and King James turned to her as well, clearly confused. 

“It’s happening,” Zoe gasped, glancing up at her vortex manipulator.

“Oh, boy,” the Doctor sighed as the blue light started to flicker through Zoe’s jacket rapidly.

“What is that?” King James gasped. “What is this witchcraft?!”

“Alright, sire, you’re about to see something that’s going to seem very strange, but I’m going to need you to keep with me on this,” the Doctor hummed.

Zoe squeezed her eyes shut. “Goodbye, Doctor!” She called.

“Goodbye-!”

Before the Doctor could call out her name, Zoe was sucked away to be dropped once again wherever the vortex manipulator decided to drop her.

* * *

She landed on her back on the cement right next to the Tardis, but not inside it. Zoe frowned and tried to open the Tardis door but found it was locked. She winced. She really needed to ask the Doctor for a key. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door politely. She waited for a response, but when none came she tried knocking one more time. Nothing. Zoe glanced around the area with her hands on her hips, wondering what the hell she was supposed to do when, in a restaurant window just a few feet away, she spotted the Doctor, Rose, Jack, and what looked like Mickey Smith from his photographs sitting at a table together. She grinned and ran forward as the four of them were laughing.

Zoe banged her hand loudly on the window and they all turned to see her standing outside, waving at them.

“Zoe!” they all cried belatedly, Jack and Rose waving back at her.

Zoe felt her heart soar at the sight of them, much happier here than she was in seventeenth-century England being arrested and interrogated for witchcraft. She bolted towards the entrance of the restaurant and pointed out the table to the host.

The staff quickly got Zoe a chair at the end of the table and a menu.

“Well, hello there,” Zoe beamed. 

“When did you get here?” the Doctor wondered.

“Oh, a few moments ago,” Zoe shrugged. “I was outside the Tardis which, by the way, I don’t have a key for.”

The Doctor winced. “Ah, I was wondering when you’d need that,” he hummed.

Zoe snorted and rolled her eyes before turning to Mickey with a bright smile. “I haven’t met you yet. I’m Zoe Wilson,” she said, holding out your hand.

“Rose mentioned you might not have met me,” Mickey nodded and shook her hand. “Mickey Smith.”

“Pleasure. Now where the bloody hell are we?” She asked as she casually flicked through the menu.

She ignored as Jack snorted on his drink at her question.

“Cardiff,” Rose answered cooly. “There’s a rift here that can charge the Tardis.”

Zoe felt her heart stop in her chest and suddenly bile began rising in her throat as she looked up from the menu with wide eyes. “My-My dad lives in Cardiff,” she breathed.

The Doctor and Rose shared a look of absolute horror while Jack and Mickey looked at each other in sheer confusion. 

Just then their server took that opportunity to approach the table and ask Zoe what she would like to drink.

“She’ll have Earl Grey tea and an order of fish and chips. Two sugars for the tea, no need to give us milk,” the Doctor ordered for her, taking her menu out of her hands and practically shoving it in the server’s arms. The second the man was gone, the Doctor moved his chair closer to Zoe and grabbed her hand. “You don’t have to go see him.”

“You know I do,” Zoe breathed as she shook her head. She took a deep breath and plastered on a smile. “But not right now,” she assured them. “Right now, I should be fine.”

The server arrived with her tea and she thanked him quickly while the Doctor leaped out of his chair and marched over to an old man sitting on the other side of the restaurant reading the paper.

Zoe glanced back at him with a small frown. “Doctor?” She implored.

Suddenly, all eyes were on him as everyone at the table watched him hold up the paper where the image of an older woman with blonde hair was trying to cover her face from the camera. “And I was having such a nice day,” he sighed.


	10. A Day In Cardiff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: The next chapter will contain emotionally abusive behavior and gaslighting done by a parent. I realize this can trigger people. I will be basing this off my own experiences with my emotionally abusive father, not exaggerating in the slightest. I realize a great deal many people wish to read fics like these to escape and seeing content like this is alarming. I am including this merely because it's important to her story. 
> 
> Usually, when I do small time jumps I include these three stars: * * *. I will do this when all of Zoe's scenes are finished with her father. If you do not wish to read these scenes for fear of being triggered, it's no worry. You can skip it and not miss anything life-altering happening to Zoe. I feel the next chapter is necessary to include because it shows a lot of emotions she's working through and now she has life traveling with the Doctor to compare to life with her father. 
> 
> I WILL PLACE A WARNING OVER THE NEXT CHAPTER AS WELL RESTATING WHAT I SAID HERE.

Rose was the one who eventually filled Zoe in on who the blonde woman was and why she made the Doctor so upset giving quite a good summary of the Siltheen crash landing into Earth and the fight at Downing Street that they had. The obvious answer to discovering her presence on Earth was tracking her down and Zoe completely welcomed it. It gave her an excuse to put off seeing her dad as long as possible and quite possibly he vortex manipulator could pull her away before she got a chance to do something.

Zoe had not thought much about her dad since she put on that vortex manipulator though she was certain enough time had passed that he surely noticed her disappearance. She wondered silently if he had put up any missing posters trying to search for her or simply dismissed her as he had often done. If Zoe was honest with herself, while she had been frightened and slightly frustrated by how quickly the vortex manipulator had changed her life she was also slightly grateful for the escape it gave her from her father. 

Zoe’s father had always had anger issues ever since she could remember. Some of her earliest memories were him getting furious with the smallest of accidents, accidents she knew other parents barely minded, and her mother yelling at him to go take a walk to cool down. It got considerably worse after her mother died and suddenly there was nobody there to prepare her for how much angrier he became with her death. Suddenly, nothing Zoe could do was good enough and she tried so hard to fight against all the fury and self-hate he used against her but eventually, she found herself giving up, choosing not to care about anything let along what he said to her. 

It was only when the vortex manipulator ripped her away from that house and placed her on board the Tardis that Zoe saw an opportunity to try again. To finally have the freedom and support to be who she truly wished to be without him anywhere near her. She assumed her future self explained how awful her father was to the Doctor and Rose in the hopes of them understanding that she didn’t ever want to go back to that house for a very good reason.

Now, she knew if she was granted the opportunity she had to. She had to know how he reacted to her being gone. She wasn’t sure if it was closure she was seeking but she knew every cell in her body was egging her towards going back that house the second she got a chance. At the very least, she just needed to see him one last time.

All of a sudden, the Doctor reached out and grabbed her hand squeezing it tightly almost as if he could hear what she was facing in her head.

The gesture was so simple yet it brought tears to Zoe’s eyes as she squeezed his hand back. She needed it far more than he probably knew and when she looked up at him he gave her a gentle reassuring smile that made her heart soar to cloud nine.

She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut before nodding and marching with him and the others up the steps to city hall where the Slitheen woman, Rose told her was called Margaret, was sure to be found.

They reached the foyer and Jack pulled them all to a stop, taking off his scarf before speaking to them. “According to intelligence, the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit,” Jack explained. Zoe furrowed her brows and looked up at the Doctor, who was simply staring up at the tall ceiling with a small smile. She snorted softly and rolled her eyes. “Okay, plan of attack, we assume a basic fifty-seven fifty-six strategy, covering all available exits on the ground floor,” Jack carried on. The Doctor seemed to begin to tune into what Jack was saying at that moment and slowly turned to look at him with a frown that just made Zoe snicker. “Doctor, you go face to face. That'll designate Exit One, I'll cover Exit Two. Zoe, you Exit Three. Rose, you take Exit Four. Mickey Smith, you’ve got Exit Five. Have you got that?”

“Excuse me,” the Doctor huffed and Zoe just wanted to laugh at how adorable he looked as he pouted at Jack. It hadn’t been that long yet she still greatly missed that face. “Who’s in charge?”

“Oh, like you could make a better plan,” Zoe scoffed and the Doctor tried to glare at her but it just wound up making Zoe laugh.

“Sorry,” Jack hummed, straightening his back like a soldier. “Awaiting orders, sir.”

“Right, here’s the plan,” the Doctor announced. He paused for a moment and Zoe and Rose looked up at him expectantly when he just smiled at Jack and said, “like he said. Nice plan. Anything else?”

Zoe snorted and rolled her eyes at him with the Doctor nudged her shoulder playfully and she beamed.

“Present arms!” Jack called, raising his mobile up and pressing the speed dial button.

“Ready,” the Doctor said, pressing the speed dial button on his own mobile Zoe was completely shocked to learn he had. 

“Ready,” Zoe declared, pressing her button. Her mobile was still somewhere in the house with her dad though she wondered silently what he had done with it since she’d disappeared. The Doctor had somehow had dozens of mobiles at the ready for her and all she had to do was say the word.

“Ready,” Rose said.

“Ready,” Mickey added.

“Ready,” Jack nodded. “Speed dial?” 

“Yup,” the Doctor sighed.

“Got it,” Zoe assured him.

“Ready,” Rose said again.

“Check,” Mickey smiled.

“See you in hell,” Jack hummed, shoving his phone into his pocket and heading towards his exit.

With that, they each headed to their separate exits to wait for the Slitheen woman to arrive or pass by one of them while the Doctor went to try and talk to her face to face.

It only took a few minutes before the Doctor called them and announced. “Slitheen heading north.”

“On it,” Zoe nodded.

“On my way,” Rose said.

“Over and out,” Jack hummed.

Zoe took off running down the corridor, bursting through a group of women carrying papers in the opposite direction and accidentally scattering their papers across the floor.

“Sorry, sorry!” Zoe cried as the woman screamed. Just then, a cleaning cart ghost the worse time to turn down the corridor and Zoe swerved as she ran, just narrowly dodging it. “Coming through!” She yelled.

She burst through the doors and immediately ran into Rose as she was running from the left. 

“Come on!” Rose exclaimed, grabbing Zoe’s hand so they could start running together towards the Slitheen woman.

They rounded the corner of the alley by city hall, continuing to run just in time to catch the Slitheen woman rounding the corner on the other end of the alley. She paused once she spotted them, took off her right earring, and snarled before trying to turn around only for Jack to come racing from behind her. Her eyes widened and she ran to her left, towards the only exit nobody was running at her from.

“Margaret!” the Doctor cried, climbing down a ladder Zoe assumed the Slitheen woman had taken to get away from him.

Together, the four of them chased after her through the city hall car park but began to slow down once she got far too close to the street for any of them to chase her without looking terribly suspicious. 

“Who’s on Exit Five?!” Jack snapped as Margaret looked back at them, delighted that she seemed to have gotten the upper hand.

From what looked to be a janitorial closet to their left, Mickey popped out with a bucket on his foot gasping for air. “Here I am,” Mickey sighed. 

“Mickey the Idiot,” the Doctor moaned.

“Hey, that could have happened to any of us,” Zoe hummed. “Even with the plan, there was always a chance she might slip away.”

“Oh, be fair,” Rose sighed. “She’s not exactly going to outrun us, is she?”

Right as Rose said that, Margaret looked back at them once more with a devilish smirk and disappeared from the spot in a blue blur.

“She’s got a teleport!” Jack exclaimed with wide eyes. “That’s cheating! Now we’re never going to get her,” he huffed.

Zoe grinned as the Doctor calmly pulled out his sonic screwdriver and Rose waved her hand to assure Jack. 

“Oh, the Doctor’s very good at teleports,” Rose assured Jack.

The Doctor used his sonic and Margaret was teleported so she was running straight at them. She stared at them with wide eyes and Zoe snickered while the Doctor just beamed at her. Margaret spun around while they all remained put and she started bolting away once more, teleporting herself as she did so. The Doctor simply used his sonic once again and, horrified, Margaret did the exact same thing. Once again, the Doctor sonicked her back to them, forcing her to be teleported closer and closer to them each time.

“I could do this all day,” the Doctor smiled, holding up his sonic easily.

“This is persecution!” Margaret cried, raising her hands in surrender. “Why can’t you leave me alone? Why did I ever do to you?”

“You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet.”

Margaret winced and rolled her eyes. “Apart from that,” she huffed.

* * *

They all surrounded Margaret as the Doctor walked them back into city hall towards the room displaying the upcoming nuclear power station the newspaper had broadcasted her intentions to build.

In the center of the room on a wooden table was a white scale model of what was likely the nuclear power station in Cardiff. She smiled as she knelt down beside and toyed with the little models of buildings. It took her back to when she was really little and went to her dad’s work on her days off school. He was never able to be cruel to her then for he was always fearful of one of his bosses seeing him harass his child while hs should be working. He usually just left her indoors surrounded by all their blueprints and scale models to pass the time.

“So, you're a Slitheen, you're on Earth, you're trapped. Your family gets killed but you teleport out just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station. But what for?” the Doctor asked, turning his attention to Margaret.

“A philanthropic gesture,” Margaret answered cooly. The Doctor smiled and nodded in a way that told Zoe he did not believe a word she said. “I’ve learned the error of my ways.”

“And it just so happens to be right on top of the rift,” the Doctor hummed.

“What rift would that be?” Margaret asked innocently.

“As if you don’t know,” Zoe scoffed, smiling at Rose as the blonde knelt down beside her to play in the scale model like Zoe was.

“A rift in space and time,” Jack responded regardless. “If this power station went into meltdown.” Jack made a sucking noise demonstrating the entire planet being sucked into the rift. “Boom!” He cried, gesturing the planet’s explosion.

“This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity,” the Doctor said, staring down at the layout of the power station.

“Didn’t anyone notice?” Rose frowned. “Isn’t there someone in London checking this sort of stuff.”

“Not here,” Zoe snorted.

“We’re in Cardiff,” Margaret nodded. “London doesn’t care. The South Wales coast could fall into the ocean and they wouldn’t notice.”

“Exactly,” Zoe sighed. “The only people who would check on Cardiff projects are right here in Cardiff.”

“Oh, no, I sound like a Welshman,” Margaret gasped, her eyes widening after Zoe agreed with her. “God help me, I’ve gone native.”

“But why would she do that?” Mickey wondered. “A great big explosion, she’d only end up killing herself.”

“She’s got a name, you know,” Margaret snapped.

“She’s not even a she, she’s a thing,” Mickey muttered, not even bothering to look at Margaret.

“If she chooses to go by she then she’s a she, Mickey,” Zoe sighed, rolling her eyes at the man.

“Oh, and she’s clever,” the Doctor hummed. He reached into the scale model and pulled out the grey bottom at the center of the white buildings and white plaster surrounding it. He flipped it over to reveal a lot of electricity in the grey board, that looked strangely similar to a surfboard. “Fantastic.”

“Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?!” Jack exclaimed delightedly. 

Zoe turned to Rose with a raised brow, silently asking the girl if she had any idea what Jack just said, but Rose scoffed and shook her head. She was just as clueless as Zoe.

“Couldn’t have put it better myself,” the Doctor said, looking at Jack with wide eyes as the man practically worshipped the board.

“Oo, genius!” Jack cried as he grabbed the board from the Doctor. “You didn’t build this,” he told Margaret making Zoe snort.

“Let me see,” Zoe said, finding her interest peaked. She ran over to Jack’s side of the table while he held it out for her to inspect.

“I have my hobbies,” Margaret shrugged, smiling shyly. “A little tinkering.”

“No, no, no,” Jack frowned and shook his head. “I mean, you really didn’t build this. Way beyond you.”

“I bet she stole it!” Mickey exclaimed and Zoe rolled her eyes as she ran her hand lightly over the board.

It was beautiful in an odd sort of way. It was like why you see a flying car on the television or when she looked at the Tardis. She knew it was capable of incredible things and looking at all that power compressed into something as simple as this board was astonishing and quite frankly, a sight to behold.

“It fell into my hands,” Margaret shrugged.

“Is it a weapon?” Rose wondered.

“I don’t think so,” Zoe murmured with furrowed brows. It was too beautiful to be used for bad.

“It’s transport,” Jack explained. “Excuse me, Zoe,” he said as he took the board from her and placed it on the ground with the grey side up and all the technology on the bottom. “You see, if the reactor blows, the rift opens. Phenomenal cosmic disaster. But this thing shrouds you in a forcefield. You have this energy bubble, so you're safe. Then you feed it coordinates, stand on top, and ride the concussion all the way out of the solar system.”

“It’s a surfboard!” Mickey gasped.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Zoe grinned.

“A pan-dimensional surfboard, yeah,” Jack nodded in agreement.

“And it would’ve worked,” Margaret snapped. “I’d have surfed away from this dead-end dump and back to civilization.”

“You’d blow up a whole planet just to get a lift?” Mickey frowned.

“Like stepping on an anthill,” Margaret muttered, a scowl on her face as she mentioned the ‘anthill’. She marched over to Zoe and stood by her side.

“How did you think of the name?” the Doctor asked, staring up at a banner across the wall that read ‘The Blaidd Drwg project. Prosiect y Blaidd Drwg.’

“What, Blaidd Drwg?” Margaret implored while glaring at Zoe. “It’s Welsh.”

“I know, but how did you think of it?” the Doctor asked.

“I chose it at random, that’s all,” Margaret shrugged, finally walking past Zoe and towards the Doctor. “It just sounded good. Does it matter?”

The Doctor turned to them with furrowed brows. “Blaidd Drwg.”

“What’s it mean?” Rose asked.

“Bad wolf.”

“Bad wolf?” Zoe smiled softly. It was quite a cool name. When she was younger and beginning to understand that her father’s cruelty was not common, he was just hateful to her and her mother, wolves had become her favorite animals. She used to leave home for whole days at a time just to run through forested areas and dream of running away forever with the wolves. She was just a child, of course, but her main fantasy was that one day she would see a wolf outside her bedroom window and it would guide her to her new home. “What’s a Bad Wolf?”

“I’ve heard that before,” Rose frowned. “Bad Wolf. I’ve heard that lots of times.”

“Everywhere we go,” the Doctor hummed, his tone deadly serious. “Two words are following us. Bad Wolf.”

“How can they be following us?” Rose worried.

The Doctor was silent for a good minute before he looked down and a smile slid across his face. “Nah, just a coincidence. Like hearing a word on the radio and then hearing it all day.” Beside her, Rose rolled her eyes at the Doctor and Zoe snickered at the sight. “Never mind. Things to do. Margaret, we’re going to take you home,” he declared as he marched towards the exit.

“Hold on, isn’t that the easy option, like letting her go?!” Jack exclaimed.

“This is so brilliant we actually get to go to their planet!” Zoe giggled. “Raxa,” she winced and the Doctor rolled his eyes at her. “Hold on! Raxacor,” she tried.

“Raxacoricofallapatorius,” the Doctor said with a sigh.

“Raxicorico,” Zoe tried again, cringing at herself while she walked towards the Doctor slowly.

“Fallapatorius,” the Doctor nodded.

“Raxacoricofallapatorius!” Zoe exclaimed with a large smiled and the Doctor laughed, pulling her into a hug and lifting her off her feet. “That’s it! I did it!” She beamed as he dropped her back down and she pumped her fist into the air.

“They have the death penalty,” Margaret said and the mood immediately died. “The family Slitheen was tried in its absence many years ago and found guilty with no chance of appeal. According to the statutes of government, the moment I return, I am to be executed. What do you make of that, Doctor? Take me home and you take me to my death.”

The Doctor stared at her almost terrifyingly calm. “Not my problem,” he said simply.

* * *

A little later into the night, Zoe had gotten takeaway for everybody but Margaret from a local restaurant as they would be stuck in the Tardis for what looked like the rest of the night. Jack and the Doctor both thanked her and placed their food to the side while they worked on connecting Margaret’s surfboard to the Tardis and charging the ship up faster so they could leave. The Doctor gave her the Tardis key after she tried to pass him some food and she smiled when she saw that it was fashioned into a sort of necklace, placing it on immediately. Rose and Mickey remained near the entrance to the Tardis eating and watching the scene while Zoe sat on the ground just a few feet from Jack eating her chips. 

“This ship is impossible,” Margaret gasped as she leaned over the console. “It’s superb. How do you get the outside around the inside?”

“Like I’d give you the secret, yeah,” the Doctor scoffed.

“I almost feel better about being defeated,” Margaret hummed, a soft smile on her lips. “I never stood a chance. This is the technology of the gods,” she said, looking between Zoe and the Doctor. Zoe kept her eyes firmly on her food, though she could feel every moment Margaret looked at her. 

“Don’t worship me- I’d make a very bad god,” the Doctor said.

“It’s not all bad,” Zoe shrugged. “You’d get statues made after you and buildings are erected in your name.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t get a day off for starters,” the Doctor sighed and Zoe snickered. “Jack, how are we doing, big fella?”

“This extrapolator’s top of the range. Where did you get it?” Jack asked Margaret.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Margaret shrugged. “Some airlock sale?”

Zoe snorted. “He means where did you steal it from,” she murmured and Margaret glared at her.

“Must’ve been a great big heist,” Jack nodded, and then it was his turn to be glared at by Margaret. “It’s stacked with power.”

“But can we use it for fuel?” the Doctor wondered.

“It’s not compatible, but it should knock off about twelve hours. We’ll be ready to go by morning.”

“Then we’re stuck here overnight,” the Doctor huffed, leaning back n the console.

“Joy,” Zoe said sarcastically.

“I’m in no hurry,” Margaret shrugged, smiling almost sweetly at them.

“Of course you’re in no hurry,” Zoe scoffed. “You’re a prisoner.”

“We’ve got a prisoner,” Rose chortled, walking through the group to dumb her and Mickey’s takeaway in the rubbish bin below the control deck. When she came up she leaned on the staircase briefly as she furrowed her brows at Margaret. “This police box is really a police box.”

“You’re not just police, though,” Margaret told Rose as Rose crossed the console room back to Mickey. “Since you’re taking me to my death, that makes you my executioners,” she said and Zoe felt her heart stop in her chest. “Each and every one of you,” she said, looking at each of them as she spoke as if to drive the point home.

There was a moment of awkward and clearly uncomfortable silence. “Well, you deserve it,” Mickey tried to say.

“You’re very quick to say so,” Margaret nodded. “You’re very quick to soak your hands in my blood which makes you better than me, how, exactly?” She wondered. “Long night ahead. Let’s see who can look me in the eye,” she hummed, sitting down on the jumpseat and eyeing each of them.

Zoe stared down at her takeaway, more determined than ever not to look at Margaret and she figured it was the same for everyone in the Tardis because a few minutes later she heard the Tardis door creak and slam shut a though someone was leaving.

Another couple of minutes and the door creaked again. Zoe took a deep breath and peeled off her jacket, placing it on the railing. She went downstairs to dump out her takeaway, refusing to look at Margaret when she headed up. Instead, she marched straight over to Doctor as he was fiddling with controls on the console looking at some readings on the screen.

“I’ve gotta go,” Zoe breathed.

The Doctor looked up at her with wide eyes and then his gaze dropped to the vortex manipulator. “It’s not-?” He frowned.

“Oh, no,” Zoe shook her head. “I mean now’s the only chance I’ve got to go see him.”

“You really don’t have to,” the Doctor assured her. “You could stay here in the Tardis, with me-.”

“I can’t,” Zoe scoffed with a light humorless laugh. “Even if I weren’t heading to my dad’s I wouldn’t be able to stand being in here with her right now,” she murmured. “You might be able to handle knowing she’s going to her death but I don’t think I can bear it,” she said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She nearly scoffed at how weak she must have seemed. Future her could probably handle seeing stuff like this because she had likely grown numb to it while this version of Zoe’s emotions burst out at all the wrong moments. “I have to leave even if it’s just for a couple of hours,” she sighed.

The Doctor took a deep breath and nodded, hanging his head and staring down at the console rather than her. “If you feel yourself going _just_ ,” he shook his head and Zoe was almost surprised. Did she just hear his voice crack? “Just call one of us, yeah?”

“Of course,” Zoe grinned. “I’ll be back before you can miss me,” she hummed.

The Doctor smiled softly at her as she darted out of the Tardis and almost as soon as the door closed behind her, he toyed with the controls a bit and pulled up the exterior camera on the Tardis to watch her as she left. 

“So, what’s on?” Jack asked, attempting to peer at the screen the Doctor was staring so intently at.

“Nothing,” the Doctor snapped, pulling the screen towards him just as Zoe walked out of sight of the camera.

Meanwhile, Zoe shivered in the cold Cardiff air. She marched out to the Roald Dahl Pass and grit her teeth. “Ah, I should be a few blocks off,” she murmured. “Funny that.”

She debated grabbing a bus so she wouldn’t have to walk out in the cold but ultimately weighed it as pointless when it would just result in her waiting out in the cold far longer and then having to be shoved in with a bunch of shivering strangers, risking disappearing before anyone of them. Silently, she wished she had taken the time to get her driver’s license before she’d started traveling with the Doctor but it just so happened to be another victim of her desire to no longer care about anything important.

She rolled her eyes as she crossed the street and someone honked at her loudly. She flipped them off and scurried across the street as he screamed out a bunch of curses that she barely focused on.

Vaguely, she wondered what month it was. The spotter’s guide on her war told her that the ninth Doctor was only there for a year, or maybe she only traveled with him within a certain year, so that had to mean she was at least within the same year that she left, but it had been spring when she left. She didn’t think it was winter because this was only her second trip with the ninth Doctor which had to mean that had more months waiting for them, but could it be October?

Zoe huffed as she rubbed her hands together, darting across another street very quickly. She wished she could just get a newspaper handed to her each time she landed in modern-day England, or at the very least, a calendar with the date circled especially for her. 

She hoped she didn’t pop into modern-day England too often or else this could become horribly confusing and she was not looking forward to having to search for the date every time she fell out of the sky.

There was a big part of her that wished she’d wound up traveling with the Doctor like any of his other companions, where she wasn’t potentially landing ten years into her future without knowing it and could have a sense of direction wherever they went. Instead, she was forced to land right when the Doctor was potentially in the middle of fighting a creature and she would have to be filled in far too quickly.

She reached the street she lived on and almost scoffed. She’d been gone for at least a month and there was not a single flyer declaring her missing or asking for her to be found. She didn’t know if her father had done anything to try and search for her but this certainly was not a good sign.

Once she reached her doorstep, Zoe took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and knocked on the door.

There was a bit of bumbling around on the other side of the door and she heard something break before a hollered curse, but eventually, the door swung open.

She looked into hazy brown eyes identical to hers and sighed softly. “Hi, dad.”


	11. Meet the Wilsons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING; So I mentioned this in the previous chapter, but Zoe greets her father in this chapter and it contains some of his emotional abuse and gaslighting. If these could trigger you, you can start the chapter when you first see these three stars: * * *. This is based on my own personal experiences so it will not be sugarcoated. I am including this merely for a broader understanding of Zoe's story. It gives her far more background and shapes who she becomes to the Doctor and how she helps him. Otherwise, I would not be including it for fanfiction should not contain these elements.

“I knew you’d come back,” her father, Neil Wilson, grunted as he sat back on the sofa, a beer in his hand. “Cara kept saying I should put up flyers or call the coppers but it was useless the lot of it. I told her you were just up in your emotions cos I hollered at you and eventually, you’d be back.” Zoe rolled her eyes at the mention of his girlfriend, Cara. She was the reason they had moved to Cardiff. He met her on a dating app just as Zoe was starting university and within six months they were packing their bags so he could be closer to her. 

“What month is it?” Zoe asked, gritting her teeth against all the things she wanted to say.

Neil barked out a laugh. “Been on the drink a bit, have you? Lost track of time while you were gone? It’s the last day of September, darling.”

Zoe felt flames burn inside her chest as she glared at her father. “You mean to tell me I’ve been gone six months and you didn’t think to call a copper? Or even just put up a few posters?”

“Bah, posters are useless. What reward would I give someone for bringing you back after you were the one who ran off anyway? Oh, thanks for bringing in my careless spot of a daughter, mate. Here’s ten quid?”

“I didn’t choose to leave!” Zoe snapped, wincing as her anger so quickly won over again. She couldn’t let him win that fast. He always searched for her anger as a way to punish her and by the way he was smiling at her, he was probably beginning to think he was winning. Zoe took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “You see this wristband?” She said, holding out her arm. “This is going to sound completely mad but it teleported me somewhere else and I can’t get it off. It’s fused into my skin,” she said, showing him by trying to pull it off.

Finally, Neil seemed interested as he watched her try to pull it off and fail. “How did you do that?” He breathed, trying to pull off the vortex manipulator and just getting her to scream in pain. However, he didn’t stop trying to pull it off at her screams. She had to tear herself away from him to get him to stop yanking at what was essentially her skin. Neil quickly lost interest and snorted at her. “Were you drinking and snorting something? Got it stuck on you like a bad tattoo, eh?”

Zoe looked at him in awe of how easily he could disregard something like that. “Would you even care if I walked out that door right now and never came back?”

Neil rolled his eyes. “You can’t do that, Zoe. You haven’t got any money and you certainly haven’t got any friends. Are you gonna just sit homeless on the street waiting for me to pass by and drop a pound in your paper cup every week?”

“That would certainly be better than living with you.”

“You’re being overdramatic,” Neil moaned. “Starving on the street is not better than living with me.”

“I was gone for six months and you didn’t send a single person out to search for me!” Zoe exclaimed. “Do you really care for me so little?”

“I have to care about you Zoe,” Neil snapped. “I never signed onto this and certainly not with a child as ungrateful as you! I work and I work and for what! Do you ever consider me?!”

“I have considered you all my life,” Zoe breathed. “I grew up thinking you were the most misunderstood person in the world and I am the reason mum didn’t run as fast and as hard from you as she could! I was just a kid and I couldn’t bear the thought of living without my dad no matter how awful you’d been! I gave you chance after chance even when it killed me and you scared me to death. Ever since I was little and you screamed at me for twenty minutes for not understanding multiplication I dreamed of escaping to a place where I felt safe but no matter how many fantasies I indulged in I always had a hope deep within me that one day you’d start growing to be better and you let me down time and time again.”

“Seems like you finally got your ruddy fantasy with that little delusion of a teleporting wristband, eh?”

Zoe took a shaky breath and shook her head. “Do you even know what mum said on her death bed? What her last words to me were?”

“I don’t have to prove that I loved your mother to you,” Neil snapped. “I was there for her every day while she was in the hospital as you avoided it like the plague.”

“I was twelve and terrified of seeing my mother like that!” Zoe cried. “I regret it every single day. I hate myself for not being there and taking care of her when she needed me most. It haunts me how helpless I was.”

“Your mother needed you and was desperate to see you daily and you were off at school trying to be friends with people who are nowhere to be found today,” Neil hummed. “Tell me, which one of us is worse.”

“I was with her on her last day-,” Zoe began.

“When she’d begged the nurses to take her home after they couldn’t do anything else for her,” Neil nodded.

Zoe squeezed her eyes shut. “I was with her on her last day,” she insisted. “And she said, ‘you have to save him. It will seem difficult and scary but you have to save him and ultimately he’ll save you.’ I thought for the longest time she was talking about you. That I had to get you some help and then maybe we could move forward, but every single time I tried you didn’t accept it.”

“I don’t need you to save me,” Neil scoffed. “I don’t need anybody to save me.”

“Good, because now I doubt she was talking about you,” Zoe said simply. “I’m too similar to you to be able to save you. All I can do for the rest of my life is work to be unlike you and I suppose in a way I’ve already been helped to start,” she smiled.

“Oh, got yourself a bloke, have you?” Neil hummed. “Or is it a bird for you this week? Have you warned them about your psychological damage?”

“My damages are purely nurture, not nature. I’ve tried to be better than it all my life but I’m still too easily angered. Something in me is still fractured and that’s up to me to fix. So, you go ahead and spend the rest of your life cooped up here drinking it all away as you’ve always done and I’ll be off actually trying to be a better person,” Zoe snapped.

With that, Zoe got up from the sofa and turned around to head out of the house while Neil shot up, throwing his beer on the ground making Zoe curse the way she flinched.

“You think you’re so much better than me, do ya?!” Neil exclaimed. “Just you wait when you come back in another few months crying about how it all fell flat for you like things always do because you simply stop caring, I’ll be here waiting patiently to smirk as I say I warned you!” He hollered.

Zoe tried to tune him out as best she could. She opened the door and slammed it closed behind her, squeezing her eyes shut and taking a deep but shaky breath. She could do this. She knew she could do this. She would teach herself how to be peaceful and good. She would teach herself how to become the exact opposite of everything her father was and she would do it with more passion and fervor than she had ever put into anything else.

Just as she started to cross the street there was a deep rumbling that stopped her in her tracks. With wide eyes, she listened closer only to feel the ground softly trembling beneath her feet. She sucked in a sharp breath. There was only one explanation for this.

Zoe took off running and right as she began bolting back to the Tardis, windows around her began shattering and streetlights were exploding. People out for a late-night stroll started screaming and running from the explosions. She wasted no time bolting back to where the Tardis had been, but she didn’t notice behind her, her father had opened the door curious about the sounds of explosions and was watching her run with furrowed brows.

* * *

Zoe bolted towards the Tardis running as fast and as hard as she could while the tops of buildings began to crumble around her. As she reached the plaza where the Tardis was parked she ran face-first into Rose.

“Where the hell were you?!” Rose exclaimed, catching Zoe’s shoulders and looking at her with wide eyes.

Zoe was about to answer when her gaze wandered towards the Tardis. The Tardis almost seemed to be glowing as blue beams were shooting out of it into an enormous dark cloud in the sky and the ground around the Tardis was rumbling worse than anything Zoe had run through.

“Never mind me, what the hell is that?!” Zoe cried, pointing towards the Tardis.

“Oh, my God,” Rose gasped.

Lighting cracked across the sky and they both ducked on instinct at the sound before grabbing each other’s hands and bolting towards the Tardis running face-first into danger without any hesitation. Cracks started forming in the ground as they ran and started widening the second they were forced into existence. They were widening to the point where Zoe could easily see herself falling into one of those.

Rose glanced at her at that exact moment and Zoe knew in a heartbeat she was thinking the exact same thing. They both started running faster than before until they were able to dart inside the trembling Tardis.

Inside the Tardis, all the lights were horrifically dimmed and it was an odd sort of blue with wires Zoe had never seen before hanging everywhere. Sparks were shooting out of the console every few seconds and Jack and the Doctor were running laps around each other trying to fix it.

“What is it?!” Rose cried. “What’s happening?!”

“What’s wrong with the Tardis?!” Zoe yelled.

“Oh, just little me!” Margaret exclaimed by her side. Suddenly, an arm fell to the floor, and before Zoe knew it a large slimy Slitheen arm was wrapped around her neck.

Both the Doctor and Rose immediately lurched to try and save her but Margaret held out her human hand to stop them in their tracks while she tightened her grip around Zoe’s neck and made the girl let out a strangled noise.

“One wrong move and she snaps like a promise!” Margaret hollered.

The Doctor met her eyes with wide terrified ones. “I might’ve known,” he gasped.

“I’ve had you bleating all night, poor baby, now shut it,” Margaret snapped. “You, blondie, put the extrapolator at my feet!” She barked at Rose.

Rose hesitated, glancing at the Doctor and clearly uncertain if she should follow Margaret’s order. Margaret squeezed Zoe’s neck tighter and Zoe couldn’t breathe. Her eyes rolled back completely beyond her control. She felt her mouth fill with saliva and she was certain her face was beginning to pinken.

The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut and nodded for Rose to move. Jack picked up the extrapolator and passed it to Rose who placed it delicately at Margaret’s feet.

“Thank you,” Margaret said with a smile far too sweet for a woman who was choking the life out of Zoe at that very moment. “Just as I planned,” she hummed.

“I thought you needed to blow up the nuclear power station,” Rose frowned.

“Failing that!” Margaret snapped, petting Zoe’s hair and making Zoe grit her teeth. “If I were to be arrested then anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would be captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor. So the extrapolator was programmed to go to plan B!” Margaret exclaimed, pulling on Zoe’s hair. “To lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift. And what a power source it found,” she hummed, smiling around at the Tardis. “I'm back on schedule, thanks to you.”

“The rift’s gonna convulse, you’ll destroy the whole planet!” Jack hissed.

“And you with it!” Margaret laughed. She spun Zoe away, placing her hand around her throat but keeping Zoe off the extrapolator so she could step on it. Zoe cried out when she was spun and made a quick gasp for air returning a little color to her face while Margaret walked onto the extrapolator with a devilish grin. “While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back. Surf’s up.”

The Tardis faltered and spluttered and suddenly the console cracked open and a bright light began to pour out. Zoe squeezed her eyes shut and looked away lest the light blind her, but Margaret stared straight into it.

“Of course, opening the rift means you’ll pull this ship apart,” the Doctor hummed.

“So sue me,” Margaret scowled.

“It’s not just any old power source. It’s the Tardis. My Tardis. The best ship in the universe.”

“It’ll make wonderful scrap,” Margaret spat.

“What’s that light?!” Rose exclaimed, shielding her eyes from it.

“Why’s it coming from the center of the Tardis?” Zoe gasped.

“It’s the heart of the Tardis,” the Doctor explained. “This ship’s alive. You’ve opened its soul.”

“It’s so bright,” Margaret breathed.

“Look at it, Margaret,” the Doctor instructed.

“Beautiful.”

“Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch. Look at the light.”

Slowly, Margaret began to relax and her hand dropped Zoe from the chokehold. Zoe gasped for air and scurried back to the Doctor as he held out his hand for her to grab. She took it gratefully and bolted into his arms, placing her head against his chest and gasping for air while she rubbed at her throat she was certain was bruised.

The Doctor gently ran his fingers over her head while Margaret continued to stare into the Tardis with a soft smile. Eventually, she looked up at the Doctor with an odd sort of wonder in her eyes. “Thank you,” she breathed. 

In a moment, Margaret’s skin suit hit the floor and at the sound of it, Zoe began to turn thinking it was safe. The Doctor bolted away towards the Tardis controls. “Don’t look!” He called to Zoe. “Stay there. Close your eyes!”

Zoe did as he instructed squeezing her eyes shut while the Doctor flicked some controls and she heard what she assumed was the Tardis console closing. 

“Now, Jack, come on, shut it all down! Shut down!” the Doctor exclaimed and Jack bolted over to the console to begin fiddling with the controls. “Rose, that panel there, turn all the switches to the right. Zoe, I know she hurt you but push every red button on the panel to Rose’s left and push the lever up!”

They all raced to do as he instructed as quickly as possible and gradually, as they all finished their tasks the normal lights began to glow within the Tardis and the ship stopped shuddering.

The second the Doctor was certain they were safe, he bolted over to Zoe and placed his hands delicately on her neck making her wince even as his touch was feather-light. His eyes were dark with concern as he placed one hand on her shoulder and smoothed over her hair with the other hand to keep his fingers off her neck.

“It’s definitely going to bruise,” he murmured.

Zoe’s eyes fluttered shut and she sighed roughly. “It’s,” she cleared her throat after speaking, her voice coming out strangled and hoarse. “It’s fine,” she said, wincing as her voice sounded only slightly better. 

“It’s not,” the Doctor insisted. “You should’ve never been in that position.”

“I’m being thrown into danger all the time with you,” Zoe smiled softly, tears pricking her eyes as her voice squeaked a bit while she tried to bring it back to normal. “This is nothing new,” she assured him.

“I saw her nearly choking you to death,” the Doctor reminded her. “You’ve never been that close before. She shouldn’t have been able to get her hands on you.”

“But she did,” Zoe murmured. “And now we stopped her. We all saved the world,” she smiled.

At her words, the Doctor seemed to realize that there were more than just her and him within the Tardis and he looked up at Rose and Jack, who were watching them, with wide eyes.

“Right,” the Doctor cleared his throat awkwardly. Zoe turned to face the others with a grin but the Doctor wouldn’t let her move where he couldn’t keep a firm grip on her. “Nicely done,” he nodded. “Thank you, all.”

“What happened to Margaret?” Rose asked, nodding to the skinsuit on the floor.

“Must’ve got burnt up,” Jack shrugged, sighing softly. “Carried out her own death sentence.”

“No, I don’t think she’s dead,” the Doctor frowned, walking over to the skinsuit to kneel before it. Zoe quickly followed, kneeling on the other side of Margaret’s skinsuit. 

“Then where’d she go?” Rose wondered.

“She looked into the heart of the Tardis,” the Doctor hummed. “Even I don't know how strong that is. And the ship's telepathic, like I told you, Rose. Gets inside your head. Translates alien languages. Maybe the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts.” He reached into the skinsuit and pulled out a large moss green egg with what looked like tentacles coming off the top. “Here she is.”

“What?!” Zoe exclaimed with a light cough.

“She’s an egg?” Rose frowned.

“Regressed to her childhood,” the Doctor confirmed with a nod.

“She’s an egg,” Jack muttered, staring at the egg with wide eyes.

“She can start again,” the Doctor told them while Zoe poked one of the tiny tentacles and squealed when it moved. “Live her life from scratch. If we take her home, give her to a different family, tell them to bring her up properly, she might be alright!”

“Or she might be worse,” Jack warned the Doctor.

“That’s her choice,” the Doctor hummed.

“She’s an egg!” Zoe giggled, rubbing her throat as she did so.

“She’s an egg,” the Doctor nodded.

Slowly, Rose’s eyes widened and she leaped up from the ground. “Oh, my God, Mickey!” She cried.

Rose ran out of the Tardis and Zoe frowned, rising to her feet and running out after her.

“Rose!” Zoe called, her voice squeaking horribly when she screamed.

“Zoe?” A different voice implored and Zoe felt her heart stop in her chest. She turned at a snail’s pace to see her father slowly walk out of the shadows like a perfect movie villain. “What were you doing in that box? And why is your neck all red?”

Right before Zoe could answer, her arm began to burn and she rolled her eyes. “I don’t have time for this. I have to say goodbye to the people who matter to me.” She turned and headed back into the Tardis, ignoring him as he called her name.

“Doctor,” Zoe gasped, running up to him as the blue light began to flicker rapidly. “I’m going.”

The Doctor sucked in a sharp breath and pulled her into a tight hug. “Let me know what just happened. Don’t brush it off,” he instructed.

“I won’t,” Zoe assured him with a roll of her eyes, smiling gently. “Goodbye, Jack.”

“Safe travels,” Jack wished her, saluting her quickly with two fingers as she was pulled sharply away from them.

* * *

Zoe landed, for the first time ever, on her feet. She was able to celebrate for a good minute before she realized why she landed on her feet. She was in a cupboard. A cupboard stuffed to the brim with so much stuff she had no choice but to land on her feet. She tried to open the door but groaned when she found it locked with only a key able to unlock it.

Thus, she resorted to the last thing she was able to do. She banged on the door as hard as she could. “Hello?!” She cried, her voice squeaking horribly. “Hello?! I’m stuck in this cupboard, can you help me?!”

She heard a few soft pants and then a hand hit the door. “Zoe?!” 

Zoe’s eyes widened. That sounded exactly like the thirteenth Doctor.

“Doctor? I landed in here for some bloody reason, and I just got choked by a Slitheen so my voice is halfway giving out,” Zoe explained quickly.

“What on Earth is a Slitheen?” What sounded like a Southern American woman asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” the Doctor sighed. “Don’t talk anymore. Rosa, do you by any chance have an iced drink for my friend in the cupboard?”

“They might have some iced lemonade in the employee room. Let me open this door and I’ll go check for you,” the Southern accent said.

“Marvelous!” the Doctor exclaimed. “Zoe, I know you’re about to question something but keep it to yourself until Mrs Rosa Parks can get you something to drink.”

The Doctor knew her too well, Zoe decided because her mouth was open right at that moment ready to scream  _ Rosa Parks?! _ likely destroying her voice. Zoe heard the key fiddling around in the lock and soon enough, the door swung open and the first face she saw was none other than Rosa Parks, herself.

Zoe’s eyes widened but she kept her mouth shut. That didn’t stop Rosa from looking at her with furrowed brows and glancing back at the Doctor and Yasmin as if they could offer some explanation for their friend in the cupboard. Once they remained silent, Rosa sighed softly and shoved the key in her pocket.

“Okay,” she hummed. “I’m gonna go get you something nice and cool to drink. Be right back.”

“Brilliant!” the Doctor exclaimed, beaming at Rosa. “We’ll be here!”

Rosa shook her head aimlessly at the Doctor before turning and heading to the employee room. 

Once she was out of earshot, Zoe gasped loudly and turned to the Doctor. “Rosa Parks?!”

“Oh, it is good we waited until she was gone,” Yasmin winced.

“We have to make sure Rosa gets on the bus and that the bus is full so she’s asked to stand for white passengers,” the Doctor quickly explained.

“It’s in jeopardy?” Zoe frowned.

“Someone’s traveled here specifically to stop Rosa from becoming the start of the riots. We have to work to undo everything he does as he does it.”

“Ah,” Zoe nodded. “So why are we here?”

“We’re making sure Rosa works late so she has to take the bus. I’ve given her my coat to stitch up for the night.”

“I’m already staying with her to make sure she leaves at the right time,” Yasmin told her with a nod.

“Aw, bloody hell,” Zoe moaned. “I really want to be able to talk to Rosa Parks but I want to go with you,” she said, nodding to the Doctor.

The Doctor smiled so beautifully bright at her words. “If we get lucky enough we’ll find a chance for you to talk to Rosa properly some other time,” she assured her and Zoe beamed.

Right at that moment, Rosa returned with a cup of lemonade with ice cubes in it. 

“Here you are,” Rosa said, offering her the cup.

“Thank you so much,” Zoe gasped, immediately taking as sip and allowing an ice cube to sit in her mouth and cool the throbbing of her throat.

“Right, sorry to dash but thank you so much for agreeing to work on my coat. You’re going to make a big difference,” the Doctor assured her.

Rosa gave her an awkward smile, like many probably uncertain of what to make of the Doctor. She sighed softly and headed into what Zoe assumed was her office.

The Doctor immediately turned her attention to Yasmin. “Don't let her out of your sight,” she instructed. “We’re going to go meet Graham and Ryan. Remember, get Rosa out of here by 5:40 at the latest to be on that bus on time.” She turned to Zoe with a smile as bright as the stars themselves. “Time to save history,” she said, holding out her hand to the girl.

“So, an ordinary Thursday with you?” Zoe guessed, beginning to really see how things worked with the Doctor.

The Doctor laughed and nodded as she took Zoe’s hand and they headed out to find Ryan and Graham.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're anything like me and wondering where eleven is, trust me. I'm giving him the most beautiful entrance because he's my favorite Doctor by far. I put a little bias into Zoe loving him quite a lot even as I try not to but hey, you can't separate the art from the artist because the artist always influences the art even just a little bit.


	12. Rosa Parks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anything said in this chapter raises an issue, please tell me immediately. I'm a dumb little white girl who is trying her very best.

Once Zoe and the Doctor arrived at the bus works, Zoe tossed her cup into the nearest rubbish bin and darted right behind the Doctor towards Ryan and Graham where they were hiding behind some old rusted car.

“When did she get here?” Graham frowned at Zoe.

“I just appear like magic,” Zoe smiled and Ryan snorted while Graham furrowed his brows at her.

“Never mind her!” the Doctor snapped. “What’s going on?”

“He’s not giving up too easily,” Graham said, pointing towards the bus behind him.

Zoe peered out from behind the car and her eyes widened when she saw the tires of a bus slashed and the windows smashed in. Beside the bus, there was a man standing there beaming up at it in overalls. “Bloody hell, is that him?” She murmured, pointing to the man.

“Looks like it,” the Doctor nodded.

“And he did all that?” Zoe asked, leaning back down so the man wouldn’t see her.

“Most definitely,” Ryan hummed.

“Well, we’re not giving in easily either,” the Doctor insisted. “Ryan, check every bus stop along Blake’s route. Tell the waiting passengers that the bus is coming and they have to wait,” she instructed. 

“Okay,” Ryan nodded, beginning to stand up.

“Do not let any of the passengers walk. The bus has to be full. It has to be crowded enough so Rosa is expected to move.”

“Right,” Ryan said as he took a deep breath. “Got it.”

“Good luck,” Graham said, and with that, Ryan took off running.

“Now,” the Doctor beamed, turning to Zoe. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“If what you’re thinking is we need to find a bus at the bus depot that works and that bloke hasn’t touched then hot-wire it and get Rosa’s bus driver to drive it then, yeah,” Zoe grinned.

The Doctor chuckled lightly as Graham’s eyes widened.

“That’s my girl,” the Doctor said and Zoe’s heart twirled at her words.

“Hang on, no wait,” Graham frowned. “We can’t just nick a bus from the bus depot. What if there are coppers hanging around? What if Blake finds out we stole his bus? What if we get arrested and this whole thing just goes down the drain?”

“Don’t worry, Zoe and I will do it if you’re too worried, Graham,” the Doctor assured him, patting his shoulder. “Then again, it would be nice to have an experienced bus driver since Zoe doesn’t have her license and I can’t see her operating a 1950’s bus perfectly enough to keep everyone on the road safe on her first try, but if we run over a few pedestrians that’s just the price we pay,” she shrugged as she began to stand up and leave.

Zoe snickered and shook her head at the Doctor while Graham groaned softly and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Alright,” he moaned. “No need to use reverse psychology on me.”

“Ah, the way you were talking, it seemed so,” the Doctor grinned. “C’mon, love,” she called to Zoe and Zoe could have sworn she felt her heart stop right there.

She beamed wider than she was certain she even had and jumped up as she grabbed the Doctor’s hand and they all began heading to the bus depot.

* * *

After they’d nicked the bus they drove straight to Rosa Parks’s bus driver and quickly found him, parking right in front of him. Graham opened the doors with a wide grin and the Doctor bolted down the steps to Blake while Zoe sat in the second row on the left side of the bus, beaming at them from the window.

“What in the hell?!” Blake exclaimed in a thick Southern American accent.

“This is your replacement bus service!” the Doctor exclaimed, smiling brightly at the man.

“Driven straight to you at no cost,” Zoe hummed and Graham snorted.

“Jim boy!” Graham cried, waving to Blake. He climbed out of his seat and down the steps so Blake would be able to get in the driver’s seat.

“You again?” Blake huffed, furrowing his brows at Graham.

“I know I literally get everywhere now,” Graham smiled. “Come on, hop in and do your job,” he instructed, waving him towards the seat.

“You’re already eighteen minutes behind schedule,” the Doctor informed him.

“How do you know that?” Blake frowned at the Doctor.

“Time is money, Mister Blake,” Zoe hummed, waving him into the bus. “Wouldn’t want to be losing money, now would you?”

“What’s going on?!” Blake snapped. “What happened to that damned sit-in? Nobody else knew anything about it.”

“Love to explain all that to you, but you know us Brits, very imperious, not prone on explaining ourselves to anyone. So, no time to chat, just get driving!” the Doctor ordered him. “A lot of people need to get on this bus tonight.”

Blake shrugged his shoulders and pulled on his hat as he boarded the bus. He sat in his seat and waited for the Doctor and Graham to climb on board before he closed the doors and began driving.

The Doctor plopped down beside Zoe and sighed softly. “Driver James Blake behind the wheel. Check.”

Zoe grinned and high-fived the Doctor.

Rather than risk straining her throat further, Zoe simply leaned against the Doctor’s shoulder while Blake drove the bus somewhat quickly stopping at all the places he needed to. It was awful seeing all the black people being ordered to go to the back of the bus like some sort of cargo. It was absolutely disgusting. She wanted to do something. To say something, but in her heart, she knew the person that could really create change wasn’t someone like her but rather the woman that famously boarded that bus and incited riots and protests that made history.

As the bus stopped again and only two people boarded, Graham glanced back at the capacity on the bus with wide eyes. He moved to the seat right beside where the Doctor and Zoe were sitting. “Hey, Doc, I don't want to be alarmist, but this bus seems a bit emptier than last night,” he murmured.

The Doctor glanced back to see how empty the bus was and sucked in a sharp breath. “No, that’s bad. We need the bus to be full. Come on, Ryan.”

“Should I get off?” Zoe asked softly, glancing out the window at their bus stop. “Maybe, I can go help him?”

The Doctor shook her head. “We need to make sure every seat possible remains filled up. If you leave and the bus doesn’t fill up enough and we can’t get you or Ryan on the bus in time we might be that one seat short that makes all the difference.”

Zoe sighed and nodded. She wanted to help more than just sitting in a seat but if that was the best she could do then she supposed she simply had to do so.

It was two more stops before Yasmin and Rosa got on board when Yasmin clutching the Doctor’s coat in her hands, breathing heavily.

“Yaz, you’re here,” the Doctor gasped. “How’s it going?”

“Mrs Parks fixed your coat,” Yasmin mumbled, smiling awkwardly as she passed the coat to the Doctor and headed over to sit beside Graham.

“Oh,” the Doctor frowned. “Thank you, Mrs Parks. Beautiful work. Much appreciated,” she hummed.

“You’re welcome, ma’am,” Rosa nodded to here. She peered around the bus for a moment before getting off to reboard in the back.

“Did you ruin your coat just so Rosa Parks would fix it?” Zoe snorted.

“I didn’t have many other options,” the Doctor huffed and Zoe just giggled at her.

“Don’t shut the door!” Ryan yelled and Zoe peered out the window with wide eyes as Ryan was waving his hand wildly to try and get the attention of the bus driver. “Don’t drive off! One more coming on!” He ran up the steps to the bus and leaned on one of the seats, gasping for air. “Found you,” he breathed. “I got rid of Krasko.”

The Doctor and Zoe shared a stunned look.

“How?” the Doctor wondered.

“I borrowed this,” Ryan said holding up what looked to be a small box with a glass tube on it and some odd purple energy inside. “I think I dialed the settings as far back as he can go. He’s gone.”

“Use the door for coloreds,” Blake spat, glaring at Ryan. “The law’s the law.”

Zoe clenched her jaw and started to stand but the Doctor grabbed her hand and pulled her back down.

“We can’t say anything,” the Doctor reminded her. 

“But-,” Zoe began, gesturing wildly at Ryan as he paid the fare and was forced to get off the bus and board again in the back. 

“I know,” the Doctor assured her. “Any other time I’d be all for speaking out but not on the evening where Rosa’s supposed to be the one creating history. If it helps, let’s move back,” she said, nodding to Yasmin and Graham.

They both nodded and as the bus kicked into motion once again they headed as far back as they could to get closer to Ryan. Zoe sat down beside the Doctor once again and Graham and Yasmin sat down beside each other.

They went to two more stops and the bus mercifully began to fill up, making Zoe think they might be able to get off unlike the Doctor’s fears and wouldn’t have to be one of the white passengers forcing Rosa into prison for standing up for her rights. However, as they began to approach the last few stops, Zoe could hear the Doctor softly mumbling numbers beside her.

Zoe turned to her with a small frown and followed the Doctor’s gaze as she counted the number of people on the bus. 

“Hey, Doc,” Graham whispered. “Have we done it? The bus seems pretty full, have we got enough seats?”

The Doctor didn’t answer, instead continuing to count the occupied seats on the bus and then the number of people at the bus stop getting on board before the bus began moving again.

“What’s the matter?” Yasmin asked with furrowed brows when the Doctor didn’t respond. “What are you doing?”

“She’s counting the seats,” Zoe answered when the Doctor didn’t. “Checking if everything is okay.”

“Well, has it worked?” Yasmin asked. “Have we done enough?”

“I don’t know,” the Doctor murmured.

“We get off at the next stop, right?” Graham implored with a raised brow.

“Is that where the Tardis is?” Zoe asked.

“Yeah,” Yasmin nodded. “The Empire Theatre.”

The bus stopped once more and automatically, Graham got out of his seat and started to move into the aisle. “Right, come on, then,” he sighed. “We can go, job done, history’s safe.”

Zoe wasn’t so quickly convinced and turned to the Doctor with concern etched across her face. A woman climbed on board and took Graham’s empty seat leaving him standing while the three women continued to sit. 

“Well come on, then,” Graham insisted, waving the women off the bus.

Zoe and Yasmin continued to study the Doctor waiting for what she said they needed to do.

“Doctor?” Zoe prompted softly.

The Doctor took a shaky breath and looked up at Graham. “Don’t get off, Graham. If we get off there’s enough empty seats for white passengers. Rosa won’t be asked to move. We have to stay on.”

Zoe sucked in a sharp breath. The Doctor had warned her that they might run low on seats so she couldn’t leave, but when the bus filled up she had recklessly allowed herself to believe they might be able to leave. 

“You’re saying for a fact we have to be on board when Rosa is arrested?” Zoe breathed, the concept feeling completely unreal until she actually said it.

“We’re part of the story,” Yasmin murmured with wide eyes. “Part of history.”

“No, no, no,” Graham almost begged. “I don’t want to be part of this.”

“We have to,” the Doctor insisted. “I’m sorry. We have to not help her.”

That really hit Zoe like a bullet. It was one thing when Ryan would be able to come back with them to the Tardis and they could apologize endlessly for not helping him and try to make amends and he could understand. It felt like something awful had shifted knowing she would be forced to sit and watch as Rosa was arrested doing absolutely nothing to help her.

“I'm going to need those seats back there,” Blake called and Zoe looked to Yasmin with wide eyes. It was starting. “Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats.”

Two women moved further back into the bus and the man sitting beside Rosa stood to move. Rosa stood up as well to allow him out and then pause for a long moment before moving back into her seat.

Zoe squeezed her eyes shut as Blake immediately jumped from his seat, grabbed one of the signs reading ‘white’ stuck onto the seats in the front rows, and moved it directly onto Rosa Parks’s seat. 

“Stand up now,” Blake hissed.

“I don’t think I should have to,” Rosa said firmly. 

“Are you going to stand up?!” Blake hollered and Zoe actually winced at how quickly he had begun screaming at Rosa. 

There was a brief pause and Zoe found she couldn’t breathe.

“No,” Rosa said.

“If you don’t stand, I’m going to have you arrested,” Blake snarled.

Zoe’s heart was actually pounding in her chest and she looked up at Graham who was staring at the scene completely horrified. It was an odd sort of moment because Zoe had the ability to know in the future this is the moment that created history and changed so many things for the better but at the same time, it made her sick to her stomach watching it have to take place. 

She heard Rosa take a deep breath in the seat right behind her. “You may do that,” Rosa said to the bus driver.

Blake stormed out of the bus furiously and used a telephone kiosk right beside the bus stop to call the police. It only took a few minutes for the police to arrive and Blake talked to them outside quickly pointing Rosa out and telling them what she had done.

The policemen marched onto the bus and took her away, Zoe peered out the window as Rosa Parks was walked into the police car and over her shoulder, Zoe felt the Doctor and Yasmin watching as well in awe of Rosa.

Once Rosa Parks was arrested and taken away, Blake moved back to driving the bus as though nothing happened and they all immediately got off at the next stop. They walked for a while in almost complete silence, each of them far too stunned at what they had witnessed to speak outside of the odd comment remarking how stunned they were.

The Doctor dematerialized them sending them out into space before she wordlessly put footage of the events they just witnessed up on the screen on the far wall of the Tardis. 

“On Monday, the boycotts begin,” the Doctor explained. “Across Montgomery, people refuse to use the buses as a response to Rosa's arrest. And in just over a year, on 21st December 1956, segregation on buses in Montgomery was ended.”

“So it all worked out for her,” Ryan assumed.

“No, life’s still hard for Rosa,” the Doctor told him. “She loses her job, so does her husband. It’s a struggle, but they keep fighting. And in June 1999, Rosa receives the Congressional Medal from President Clinton, the highest award given to any civilian, recognizing her as a living icon for freedom.”

On the screen, there was footage of a much older Rosa Parks being awarded the medal as the Doctor said. 

“It took so long, though,” Ryan frowned. “Her whole life.”

“Yes, it did,” the Doctor agreed. “But she changed the world. In fact, she changed the universe. Look at this.” She waved them all towards the Tardis doors and opened both to reveal they were in an asteroid belt with a large asteroid right in front of the Tardis. “Asteroid 284996. Also known as Rosa Parks.”

* * *

After the Doctor had shown them the asteroid and they spent time discussing all that they had seen, Zoe headed back to her room on the Tardis. She huffed as she kicked off her shoes and winced when she spotted mud stained into her white skirt. She had been in these clothes far too long.

She changed into a grey turtleneck jumper, black trousers, and black sneakers once again before plopping down onto her bed. She was angry and awestruck and also quite tired. When was the last time she had slept? She had been so frightened of sleeping when she first learned what the vortex manipulator was capable of doing and had avoided it each chance she got, shying away from the possibility that she might be awoken at any moment dropping somewhere right in the middle of the fire.

However, regardless of her fears, she felt herself drifting away slowly incapable of stopping herself from falling asleep.

She managed to get a few moments of peace, finally, until a hot burning on her arm awoke her.

Zoe shot up in the bed screaming as hot tears burned her eyes when she looked down at the vortex manipulator ready to launch her somewhere new. All she wanted was to sleep. She just wanted a few moments of rest and yet, was she not allowed? Zoe wanted to cry and scream herself hoarse. This was unfair. This was completely unfair. The moment she’s searching for just a little bit of rest it forces her into some part of time and space to fight for her life once again instead of giving her a half-decent break. 

She sniffled softly and wiped the tears from her eyes, glancing down as the blue light began flickering rapidly. There was no stopping it now, was there?

Zoe closed her eyes right as the vortex manipulator yanked her through the tube that was the time vortex and almost as if it were having mercy on it, it shot her out on her feet this time. She stumbled around a bit finding her in a dark corridor that made her squint her eyes to see the twelfth Doctor and Clara staring back at her with furrowed brows. Clara had her torch shining on Zoe but lowered it quickly once she noticing Zoe wincing against the light.

“I think that was the cleanest entrance I’ve seen you make,” the Doctor remarked.

“Last time I was in a cupboard,” Zoe shrugged. “Where are we?”

“In a spaceship in orbit around Neptune,” the Doctor answered with a soft sigh.

Zoe quickly fell into step walking between the Doctor and Clara as they peered around the corridors trying to find something of interest.

“This close to the planet, they must have some pretty powerful anti-grav shielding on board,” the Doctor hummed.

Clara shined her torch right on a red oriental mask hanging by one of the doors. “Looks like a Japanese restaurant,” Clara remarked with a small frowned. She turned back to Zoe and the Doctor and gasped, looking at them with wide eyes. “Have you brought us to a space restaurant?”

“Pretty dark for a space restaurant,” Zoe frowned, turning back around to narrow her eyes at the darkness.

“People never do that, you know?” the Doctor huffed.

Clara looked to Zoe with a raised brow but all Zoe could do was shrug her shoulders.

“Do what?” Clara asked.

“They never put the word space in front of something just because everything's all sort of hi-tech and future-y,” the Doctor told them as they carried on walking down the corridor. “It's never space restaurant or space champagne or space, you know, hat. It's just restaurant, champagne, or hat. Even if this was a restaurant.”

“Oh, but space champagne sounds far more interesting,” Zoe snorted and Clara giggled at her.

“Hang on, what about spacesuit?” Clara implored with a raised brow.

“Or spaceship!” Zoe exclaimed with a nod.

The Doctor rolled his eyes at the pair of them. “Pedants,” he accused.

Before Zoe could come up with a clever retort, they were all stopped at the sounds of something powering up behind them. The turned around with wide eyes like deers caught in the headlights to find four people in what looked to be military uniforms pointing guns at them.

“Well, this kicked off to a great start,” Zoe scoffed.


	13. The Morpheus Pods

“Are you crew?” the woman farthest to the right of the group asked. “Are you crew?!”

Rather than answer, the Doctor pulled out his psychic paper and wordlessly flashed it to each of the four people pointing guns at them until he reached the woman who had snapped at them.

“Engineering stress assessors?” She frowned.

The Doctor’s eyes widened and he nodded as he placed the psychic paper back into his coat. “Yes. Yes, we are,” he murmured. “We’re here to, er.”

“We’re here to assess stress,” Zoe filled in the blank quickly.

The Doctor smiled thinly and nodded. “Stress.”

“So, what happened?” the woman asked them very casually.

“From the beginning of time?” the Doctor scoffed, smirking at them. “That’s a very long story.”

“Doctor,” Zoe sighed, squeezing her eyes shut.

“Well,” the Doctor hummed. “Well, we just arrived, you know, and there was nobody about. What are you doing here?”

Slowly, the woman lowered her rifle, and one by one the other three holding up rifles lowered their weapons as well. Ah. She must be in charge.

“Twenty four hours ago, this station fell silent,” she explained. “No comm signal. Nothing. Dead. We've come to find out why.”

“Theories?” the Doctor implored with a raised brow.

“Could be anything,” the woman shrugged. “Meteorite strike. Space pirates.”

“Ah, see?!” Clara exclaimed with a large smile. “Not just pirates,  _ space _ pirates,” she said, flashing her torch in the Doctor’s face at the word ‘space’. 

Zoe snorted and nudged Clara playfully. “You’re such an idiot,” she murmured and Clara snickered.

“So, what, you are a rescue mission?” the Doctor guessed, carrying on as though he hadn’t heard Clara.

“Yes.”

“Of four?” the Doctor frowned.

“Cuts, pet,” the woman sighed. “Right you’re to consider yourself-.”

“Part of the furniture!” the Doctor sang delightedly, beaming between the woman and Zoe. Zoe snickered and shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose at the Doctor. Why did she love this thousand-year-old idiot?

“Under my command,” the woman finished, clearly not about to randomly break into song.

“Okay,” the Doctor pouted. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” the woman sighed, shoving her way past the trio to keep marching down the corridor. “Come on.”

“Okay,” the Doctor moaned, hanging his head like a little kid being told off by their parent.

The three of them followed behind the woman and her crew at a short distance, not straying too far but not remaining close enough for them to hear their conversation.

“We still don’t know where we are,” Clara muttered.

“Indo-Japanese,” the Doctor said as he pulled them to the side and stuck his finger in his mouth. He held up his finger behind his right ear and furrowed his brows. “Thirty-eighth century.” He tasted his finger again before holding it up. “Tuesday.”

“Thirty-eight century?!” Clara exclaimed with wide eyes.

“Oh, that’s cool,” Zoe hummed, a small smile on her lips.

“It’s after the Great Catastrophe,” the Doctor explained with a nod. “There was a tectonic realignment then. India and Japan, they sort of merged.”

“We still don’t know where the rest of the crew are, though,” Clara sighed. “I mean, a place this size?”

“Hang on,” Zoe frowned. “What? Great Catastrophe? What Great Catastrophe?”

The Doctor winced. “Well, you’ve got all that to look forward to, haven’t you?” He said and Zoe rolled her eyes at his vagueness. “Mind you, this place looks as if it’s been dead for a long while now,” he said as he ran his finger along one of the edges on the wall and blew the dust off his finger.

Zoe grit her teeth as her eyelids began to cry out for sleep. There was certainly no chance for her to get a nap in on that ship which meant she would have to force herself to stay awake and perhaps for the first time since she started traveling with the Doctor, hope for a bit of adrenaline to wake her up. 

She rubbed her throat as a dull ache began to set in around it whenever she was silent. Before it pained her whenever she was talking now she had to deal with it paining her when she wasn’t talking. She sighed softly and rolled her eyes. She never caught a break.

“Should we maybe head back to the group?” Zoe frowned. “That lady seemed intent on keeping us under her command and I doubt she’ll take it well if she leaves.”

“Good point,” the Doctor nodded. “Besides, that’s the best way to know what’s going on in this ship it seems,” he hummed. “Following the leader,” he sang softly.

Zoe snorted and shook her head at him while Clara giggled and they turned to catch back up with the group scouring the ship for some members of the crew. It didn’t take them long for the crew seemed to stop at every crossroads they reached, peering warily around each corner with their guns at the ready in case something startled them.

Once they’d caught up and walked for a few feet, Clara began looking around her with a small frown.

“What is it?” the Doctor asked. 

“What’s wrong?” Zoe implored.

“I still can’t shake the feeling,” Clara sighed.

“What feeling?” Zoe wondered.

“Like I’m being watched,” she murmured, furrowing her brows as she looking behind her once again to see nothing watching her.

“Eyes,” one of the crew declared. A pale individual with strange, what Zoe thought were tattoos, across their face. “Watch. Eyes in the sky.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” a man by their side huffed, glaring at the crew member. 

“Chopra not worry,” the crew member assured the man, caressing his cheek. “474 protect Chopra. Chopra pretty.”

Zoe’s eyes widened and she looked up at the Doctor, who simultaneously looked down at her with the exact same look on his face.

Chopra swatted at 474’s hand, a dirty scowl on his face. “Oh, for the Gods’. Just back off!” He snapped, pushing 474 back to the wall.

474 immediately launched themself at Chopra and put him into a chokehold. Zoe wasn’t quite sure if she should intervene considering Chopra was being quite an arse to 474.

“Oh, come on now,” one of the men moaned.

“Let him go, pet!” the leader ordered, aiming her gun at 474.

“Not help it!” 474 cried, releasing Chopra from the chokehold and scrambling to a nearby corner to whimper. Immediately, the Doctor rushed over to kneel beside 474 and Zoe quickly followed his lead, making sure to keep a safe distance in case 474 wanted space but there to comfort them should they need it.

“It could have killed me!” Chopra shouted, rubbing his hand over his throat and making Zoe silently aware of her own throat.

“That’s how they’re grown,” the leader huffed, rolling her eyes at Chopra. “You know that. They react to any attack.”

“Grown?” Clara frowned.

“Yeah, what do you mean by grown?” Zoe wondered.

“They might not give them much upstairs, but our friend here certainly knows how to fight,” the leader hummed. “You’d be glad of her in a tight corner, I’ll bet.”

“Doctor?” Zoe implored with a small frown. “What does she mean by grown?”

“She’s a Grunt,” the Doctor said. “They’re bred in hatcheries. Cloned muscles. Low intelligence. Brute force. Instant army.”

“That’s disgusting,” Clara winced.

“Not only disgusting,” Zoe nodded. “That’s rude about the low intelligence bit,” she said, smacking the Doctor’s arm. “And absolutely barbaric.”

“Well, that’s how they roll in the thirty-eighth century,” the Doctor hummed as he climbed to his feet and held out his hand for Zoe.

Zoe excepted his hand and huffed, rolling her eyes at him. “Lovely, so we know we never improve,” she murmured and Clara snorted and nodded. As she spoke, 474 climbed to her feet and Zoe offered her a hand to help her. 474 eyed it warily before accepting it with a small smile and making Zoe grin.

All of a sudden, from what sounded like the end of the corridor there was a loud thud and then some horrific growling or snarling. They all turned with wide eyes, hesitating for only a beat before each of them marched down the corridor towards the awful snarls.

The noises seemed to be coming from some lumpy beige sorts of creatures with faces she couldn’t make out in the darkness. They stood upright with two arms and two legs like any human but there was something inherently wrong about them that made Zoe uneasy. The crew all headed in front of the Doctor, Zoe, and Clara, kneeling and aiming their guns at the creatures if any of them dared to move closer.

“Hold my hand,” the Doctor whispered to Zoe.

Zoe sucked in a sharp breath and shook her head. “I’m okay,” she assured him despite the unease she felt.

“I’m not,” the Doctor insisted and easily took her hand.

The lights were flicked on and they could see there were creatures much closer to them than they thought, one with a large gaping hole where its face should be snarling at them.

“Oh, run, run, run!” the Doctor cried, dragging Zoe along with him as they bolted down the corridor away from the creatures.

One of the men began bolting down the corridor running totally on his own. “Follow me!” He exclaimed. “This way! Straight ahead!”

“No, this way!” the leader hollered. “Deep-Ando!”

But Deep-Ando was already lost as they all followed the leader straight into what looked to be a very large laboratory.

“Quick! Push anything in front of it!” the Doctor instructed as he knocked a bunch of items off of what looked to be a futuristic cabinet. “We’ve gotta keep them out!”

Zoe tried furiously to slam the door closed on the creatures but every time she pushed they just pushed back harder.

“What the hell are they?!” the leader cried.

“Not pirates,” the Doctor huffed.

“We’ve got to get Deep-Ando!” the leader exclaimed. 

“Where’s your friend?” the Doctor frowned.

“Deep-Ando?” Chopra implored with a raised brow. “I dunno. He’s-.”

“He’s still out there!” the leader yelled.

“One problem at a time, please!” Zoe moaned, turning and trying to push the door shut with the full weight of her body, but that only made things worse when one of the creatures pushed its’ arm through the gap in the door and started grabbing for her.

“474!” the leader called.

Zoe’s eyes widened as 474 started running at her full speed. She yelped and jumped back, the Doctor catching her before she could hit the floor, as 474 launched herself against the door and cut off the arm which turned to sand and fell to the floor.

Zoe climbed to her feet and peered out the window, breathing heavily as the leader did the same to her left and the Doctor to her right.

“What the hell are they?” the leader murmured. “Where did they go?”

“They’re gone for now,” the Doctor sighed. “That’s what we need to focus on. Regroup. Try and understand what just happened.”

The leader nodded and turned to Chopra and 474. “Try to contact Deep-Ando on comms. Don’t stop until you get a response. If you get a response, ask him for his location immediately.” She then proceeded to turn on her own comms unit. “Deep-Ando, this is Nagata. May the Gods look favorably upon you. Deep-Ando, are you there?”

Meanwhile, the Doctor grabbed a handful of sand from the floor and marched across the laboratory to place it under a microscope. 

“What are you doing?” Nagata frowned.

“Finding out what they’re made of,” the Doctor answered. He tapped a few buttons on the computer to get it to work before stepping back and looking through the readings.

“Deep-Ando, are you there?” Nagata tried once again.

“Send the Grunt,” Chopra called, waving towards 474.

Zoe turned to glare at him while Nagata simply rolled her eyes.

“No,” Nagata said.

“Why not? That’s what it’s for,” Chopra insisted.

“Maybe, stop calling her an ‘it’ mate and people might listen to you,” Zoe snapped and the Doctor smirked down at her.

“Look, Deep-Ando is still out there,” Chopra huffed. “We can’t just abandon him.”

“I need proper intel before I risk anyone else, including 474,” Nagata told him. “Keep trying the comms.”

Chopra sighed and turned away as he turned on his comms. “Deep-Ando, may the Gods look favorably upon you.”

Nagata turned back to Zoe and the Doctor, raising a brow at them as they stared up at the readings of the sand. Zoe didn’t understand it but the Doctor seemed to be deeply fascinated by it. 

“Organic. Definitely organic. Blood cells. Skin cells. Mucus,” the Doctor listed.

“Human skin cells?” Zoe frowned.

“And human blood cells and germs,” the Doctor nodded. 

“So, those creatures came from humans,” Zoe concluded.

“Exactly,” the Doctor sighed. “Now, we just need to figure out how.”

Across the room, Clara was standing in between several white containers that sort of looked like escape pods that Zoe had seen in movies before. Each of the pods had a big letter ‘M’ on them in strange writing.

“What are these?” Clara asked, and Zoe walked over to her side to get a closer look.

“Morpheus?” Chopra implored with a raised brow as he walked over to Clara as well.

“Morpheus?” Zoe frowned. “Named after the God of Dreams?” She remembered. She always enjoyed studying classical mythology and ancient history and intended to study it at university before her father called that information useless and shoved her into her next best subject, science. The Doctor walked over to her with raised brows and mouthed,  _ ‘wow’ _ with a large smile on his face. “Oh, yeah,” Zoe grinned. “Ooh, yeah. Not just this,” she hummed pointing around at her pretty face.

Clara snickered and shook her head at the pair of them as she turned her attention back to Chopra. “So, what are they, then? Sleep pods?” Clara guessed.

“More than that, they’re-,” Chopra began but was cut off as static burst across his comms. “Deep-Ando? Deep-Ando, can you hear me?”

“Keep trying,” Nagata insisted.

“I wonder how you get this open,” Zoe mumbled to Clara.

“It looks like there’s a set of buttons down here,” Clara sighed, kneeling before the left side of the pod.

“I could take a look at that,” the Doctor offered as he headed over to Chopra. “You know, triangulate the signal, help you find your friend.”

“First tell me what those things are,” Nagata snapped.

Clara pressed one of the buttons along the side of the pod and all it did was slide a panel on top of the pod downward. “Well, that wasn’t it,” she sighed and Zoe snorted.

“Oh, wait!” Zoe exclaimed. “I think this might be it!” She pressed a completely red button just above the string of buttons along the side of the pod. She grinned when the pod opened and revealed all sorts of cool looking bright red technology on the inside.

“Deep-Ando, this is Chopra. I'm getting a signal!” Chopra called, rushing away from Zoe, the Doctor, and Clara to try and hear better. “Deep-Ando, can you hear me? Deep-Ando? Deep-Ando, this is Chopra. Can you hear me?”

Zoe leaned forward to get a closer look into the pod when all of a sudden a bunch of blue wires grabbed at her and attached themselves to her.

Zoe screamed and tried to reach her hand out to grab someone but neither the Doctor nor Clara could reach her in time before the pod closed shut on her.

“Zoe!” the Doctor hollered, slamming his hands down on the pod and furiously pushing the button Zoe had to get it open.

“Doctor!” Clara called, waving him over to the front of the pod.

Just over the panel Zoe and Clara had accidentally opened there were holographic images of four women in what looked like fifties attire, singing.

“Bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom. Mister Sandman, bring me your dreams,” the woman sang.

“Zoe!” the Doctor hollered, pushing at the buttons once more to try and get her out.

“It’s fine, it’s just Morpheus,” Nagata assured him with a sigh.

Suddenly, the pod hissed open and Zoe was lying there with her eyes closed as though she were asleep, blue wires all over her. 

“What did you think you were doing?!” the Doctor exclaimed as he began to tear the wires off of her furiously. “Anything could’ve happened to you!”

Zoe shot up, sucking in a sharp breath. “What the hell happened?” She gasped as the Doctor continued to peel wires off of her.

“Doctor, I saw it. It dragged her in. She was just looking around at that thing and the wires, they were like snakes. Like it was alive,” Clara explained.

“Did I sleep?” Zoe murmured, rubbing her head while the Doctor placed his hands on her waist and pulled her down from the pod.

“You did,” the Doctor nodded, placing his hand delicately on her cheek and glancing over her with worried eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Better than I was before, actually,” Zoe frowned. “I was exhausted before I got into that thing.”

“Why did it just grab at her?” Clara wondered.

“Semi-sentient. It thinks it knows what's good for you. You obviously needed forty winks. Clever little sleep pod,” the Doctor explained before turning directly to Chopra. “You said it was something more than that, though.”

“Come on, everyone knows,” Nagata moaned.

“Well, let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that we don’t,” the Dictor snapped, turning to glare at her. “What is Morpheus?”

Before Nagata could answer, 474 called out to them staring down at the last sleep pod in the row. “Last pod. This pod. Not empty.”

They all headed over to confirm what 474 said and once they’d decided the pod wasn’t empty, the Doctor put on his sonic sunglasses to try and open it. Instead, four singers popped up singing Mister Sandman. Zoe leaned forward with furrowed brows watching the singers while the Doctor rolled his eyes and groaned.

“Oh, no. No, no. enough of that,” the Doctor huffed. He pushed a few buttons on the pod and pulled out a small square disc immediately getting rid of the holographic ladies.

“Did that pop up while I was in the pod?” Zoe frowned.

“Yep,” Clara sighed, nodding at the girl.

“Huh,” Zoe hummed. “Weird.”

The Doctor pressed the button that would normally make the panel over the person inside’s face go down, the one that Zoe and Clara had accidentally pressed, but whoever was inside seemed to be holding up the panel keeping it from going down. The Doctor tried to use his hands to pull it down but whoever was inside was much more determined to keep it up.

Nagata and 474 immediately raised their guns likely assuming whatever was inside the pod was dangerous and Zoe rolled her eyes.

“Oh, put that away,” she moaned.

Clara sighed softly and headed up to try and help the Doctor. “Here. Let me try.” 

Rather than trying to forcibly pull the panel down or threaten the person inside, Clara simply knocked on the panel. 

“Hello?” Clara called. “It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you,” she assured the person inside. 

“We just want to talk to you,” Zoe nodded, heading up to Clara’s side. 

“Will you open up now?” Clara implored. The panel remained closed. “Come on,” she huffed. “Er, let’s start with names, shall we? Er, I’m Clara.”

“I’m Zoe,” Zoe added. “And that bloke who tried to shove the hatch open was the Doctor.”

“Oi!” the Doctor snapped.

“Well,” Zoe shrugged at him

Finally, the hatch opened up and a pale man with clear glasses and dark hair slowly peered out of the hatch, his breath shaky as he looked around at them with wide eyes.

“It’s okay,” Clara assured him as he peered out nervously.

However, no matter how sweet Zoe and Clara tried to be towards the man the Doctor was less enthusiastic about the pleasantries. He demanded the man’s name (Rassmussen), ordered him to open up the pod so they could talk to him properly (at which point Clara started to try and calm him down), and then ordered Rassmussen to give them answers on what was happening in this ship and what Morpheus was (which was when Zoe stepped in and asked him if this was really necessary). Timidly, Rasmussen offered them a hologram that could explain anything they wanted to know about Morpheus.

The Doctor accepted, smirking at Zoe and Clara after they had tried to tell him to be easier on Rassmussen.

The hologram was a woman with her brown hair pulled up into a bun and perfect red lipstick smiling down at them. “May the Gods look favorably upon us all,” she hummed. “Friends. We live in a time of unparalleled prosperity. A golden age of peace, harmony, and industry. But every shift must come to an end. Every working day must stop.” She held out her holographic hand and an image of a woman yawning appeared. “Of course, we can take stimulants to make that deadline, to keep us propped up through that important meeting. But always,  _ always _ , sleep claims us in the end,” she said as the woman in her hand curled up to sleep. “Until now,” she smiled.

“Sleep-deprivation pods?” the Doctor guessed with a small frown.

“Not exactly,” Chopra said.

“Welcome, Morpheus,” the woman beamed while in the background the Mister Sandman song started up again. “The Morpheus machine concentrates the whole nocturnal experience into one five minute burst. Now you can go a whole month without sleep?”

“A month?” Clara choked.

“I’m not gonna be able to sleep for a whole month?!” Zoe exclaimed. While that did give her the benefit of missing any potential stress sleeping with that vortex manipulator might give her, she didn’t want to lose a whole month of sleep. She liked to sleep. She wanted her ability to sleep back.

“All the chemical benefits of rest but freeing up the nights to keep working, working, working. To get the edge on your competitor. To turn that extra profit,” the woman continued.

“That’s insane! That’s  _ horrible _ !” Clara cried.

“That’s disgusting,” Zoe winced. Essentially they were ripping away the human need to sleep so they could increase labor. It almost made Zoe sick to her stomach.

“Finally, someone who sees it for what it is!” Chopra gasped.

“Leave the Rip Van Winkles behind and become one of a new generation of Wide-Awakes! The future is here. The future is now. Let yourself slip into the arms of Morpheus!” the woman exclaimed before the hologram disappeared.

“But sleep is-,” the Doctor began.

“Terms and conditions apply,” the woman popped back in, cutting the Doctor off before she disappeared again.

“Sleep is vital. Sleep is wonderful. Even I sleep,” the Doctor frowned.

Zoe and Clara shared a look.

“When?” Clara asked, smirking up at the Doctor.

“Well, when you’re not looking,” the Doctor replied. He looked at Zoe and furrowed his brows as he saw something that immediately worried Zoe. He leaned towards her and stared into her eyes as if he were seeing something he didn’t like.

“Morpheus is mine,” Rassmussen proclaimed and Zoe glanced over the Doctor confusedly before turning to look at Rassmussen. “My invention. It’s changed Triton society forever.”

“So, how does it work?” the Doctor asked, glancing back once more at Zoe in a way that made her concerned before he turned his full attention to Rassmussen. 

“Er, the pod sends out a coded electronic signal that acts on certain parts of the brain. Changes the fundamental chemistry,” he explained.

“It’s disgusting,” Chopra spat. “Making people into bloody drones. I’ve said it before-.”

“Aye, you have,” Nagata cut him off with a roll of her eyes.

“Conolonizing our sleep!” Chopra exclaimed. “Is nothing sacred?”

“We spend a third of our lives asleep,” Rassmussen retorted. “And time is money.”

“He’s right, man,” Nagata hummed, beaming at them. “It’s amazing. Everyone on Triton is using it.”

“Are they now?” the Doctor implored raising his brows. “Sleep, that knits up the raveled sleeve of care. The death of each day's life, sore labor’s bath. Balm of hurt minds, chief nourisher in life's great feast. Congratulations, Professor. You've revolutionized the labor market. You've conquered nature.”

“Thank you,” Rassmussen beamed.

“You’ve also created an abomination,” the Doctor snapped. 

The Doctor announced that they needed to find Deep-Ando immediately, damn the creatures outside, and hopefully, outside they could find explanations for the creatures that may or may not lend themselves to the theory he had as well as figure out just what happened to the crew of that ship.

Once they got into the corridor, Zoe made the grave mistake of asking just what the Doctor’s theory was about the creatures and he proclaimed it to be none other than sleep dust.

“Sleep dust?” Chopra scoffed.

“Sleep dust,” the Doctor confirmed.

“You’re kidding,” Nagata snorted.

“Well do I look like I’m kidding?” the Doctor wondered. “Is this a kidding face?”

“That genuinely isn’t a very kidding face,” Zoe informed them, gesturing to the Doctor’s face.

“Ask the crew of this station if they’re kidding,” the Doctor instructed. “Or what’s left of them.”

“But sleep dust?” Nagata frowned.

“Yes. The stuff in the corner of your eye,” the Doctor explained. “The stuff you wipe away every morning when you wake up.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Rassmussen huffed. “This is getting us nowhere.”

“Oi, just because you don’t like the theory doesn’t mean you’ve got to be rude,” Zoe snapped.

“Okay, how, Doctor?” Clara asked kindly and Zoe winced. Maybe, she should’ve been a bit more like that rather than reacting with anger. “How can those things be made of sleep dust?”

“Well, when we sleep, the mucus crust builds up in our eyes. Blood cells, skin cells. That's what dust largely is. Human skin,” the Doctor informed them. “But your meddling has evolved it. Hot-housed it. What used to be sleep in your eye has turned into a carnivorous life form.”

“You can’t just throw accusations around like that!” Rassmussen barked.

“Your temper is only going to make us think you either know you created this or are fearful you might have created this because you don’t have any evidence to say otherwise,” Zoe warned him.

“So, hang on,” Clara frowned. “The longer you’re in Morpheus, the more the dust builds up?”

“Lying there in those pods, people are a ready-made food source,” the Doctor nodded.

“Well, what happened to them, then?” Zoe frowned. “Where is everyone?”

The Doctor took a slow breath before eventually meeting her eyes. “Digested,” he said and Zoe felt her stomach sink.

She heard Nagata huff lightly. “Come on, we have to find Deep-Ando.” They walked for a few minutes in silence before Nagata sighed again, clearly not satisfied with what she learned from the Doctor and silently needing to know more. “If the Morpheus machines are creating these creatures and killing people, then what about us?” She wondered, gesturing around her crew. “We’ve all used the pods back on Triton.”

“Not all of us,” Chopra spat, smirking like he was better than the rest of them.

“This isn’t a good time to be smug, pet,” Nagata snapped.

“Well, my guess is that the ones you're using are pretty primitive compared to what's going on up here. These are a sort of a Mark Two, yeah?” the Doctor assumed, raising his brow at Rassmussen.

“Obviously I have tried to improve the process,” Rassmussen shrugged. “Speed things up.”

“You’ve succeeded there,” the Doctor scoffed.

“But how does the dust become those creatures?” Nagata wondered.

“You saw what happened. The dust conglomerates and molds itself into humanoid form,” the Doctor told her. “It’s adaptable. It’s clever.”

Somewhere in the distance, there was what sounded like a loud roar making each member of the crew immediately raise their guns.

“And it’s coming for us,” the Doctor hummed.

Rassmussen seemed to truly become afraid once he heard the creatures for himself. “Look, you came to rescue the crew. I’m crew, so rescue me!”

“Yeah, and you’re the only crew member we were able to find,” Zoe frowned, narrowing her eyes at him.

“How come you’re the only one left?” Clara asked.

Rasmussen scowled at the women clearly not happy that they dared to ask that question. “Because I hid,” he snapped. “I hid in the only place I thought tose monsters wouldn’t find me. Look, we’ve got to get out of here!”

“No. We can't leave this place until there's not a trace of the dust or your machines left,” the Doctor insisted. “Or that's it for your lot.”

“‘Our lot’?” Nagata repeated with a small frown. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, the human race,” the Doctor said simply.

Nagata sucked in a sharp breath and looked at Zoe with wide eyes, not quite believing what he said but both Zoe and Clara simply nodded at his words.

They continued to move through the rest of the ship until they reached another laboratory and the Doctor insisted that they went in. He claimed he wanted to find out if any of the crew members had been onto something with the Morpheus machines or learned what the creatures could be after.

They’d just started inspecting everything when they heard a loud scream across the ship. They all immediately tried to move to go and help but before they could even get out of the laboratory, this ship began rumbling and rocking and they were all forced to grab something and hold on as tightly as they could just to keep from being thrown across the laboratory.

“What’s happening?!” Chopra cried.

“Engines?” Nagata guessed.

They were all tossed forward and with Zoe, Clara, and Chopra all being thrown into the tables right by the windows looking out onto Neptune they got a very clear view of just what was happening.

“It’s definitely not the engines!” Zoe screamed.

“No! It’s the gravity shields! They’re failing!” Chopra yelled.

Zoe, Clara, and Chopra all screamed as they gripped onto the tables lining the window as tightly as they could to keep from getting thrown into the windows.

“Nagata!” the Doctor called. “That thing, the schematic! Give it to me!”

“Who the hell do you think you are?!” Nagata exclaimed.

“Me?” the Doctor frowned. “I’m in charge.”

“You have no authority!” Nagata snapped.

“No, but I’m in charge,” the Doctor insisted. “I can bypass the main systems and reboot the grav-shields!”

“Don’t waste time!” Zoe cried. “Just give the schematic to him!”

“For God’s sake, he knows what he’s talking about!” Clara yelled.

Nagata glared at them but kept one grip on the table she was holding onto while using the other hand to pull off her helmet and pass it to the Doctor.

“Doctor?” Clara implored. “Doctor, if the grav-shields are decaying-.”

“Don’t say it,” the Doctor begged. “Please, don’t say it!”

“We’re being pulled into Neptune!” Clara hollered.

“Really bloody quickly!” Zoe agreed, staring down at Neptune with wide eyes.

“Oh, Gods! Oh, Gods! Oh, Gods!” Chopra bellowed.

“Hang on!” the Doctor yelled at them. 

“What the hell do you think we’re doing?!” Zoe snapped.

“Well, hang on tighter!” the Doctor instructed.

“Oh, great!” Zoe huffed.

“Argh, this day couldn’t get any worse!” Clara exclaimed and Zoe groaned.

“Don’t say that,” Zoe begged. “That’s just asking for the day to get worse!” As if she’d called them to her, right at that moment the creatures smashed through the window of the door to the laboratory and began breaking into the laboratory. “And here comes worse!”

“I can do this!” the Doctor assured them as he projected the schematic from Nagata’s helmet onto a cabinet. “I can fix this!”

The creatures marched into the room and immediately took an interest in Rassmussen. “No! Please!” He cried. “Help me!” He began screamed as the creature loomed over him and absorbed him whole.

Zoe winced and cringed away from the scene. “That does not look like a pretty way to go!” She screamed.

The creatures began moving towards Zoe, Clara, and Chopra next.

“No! No!” Clara yelled.

“The G-force is increasing the closer we get to the planet!” the Doctor warned them. “Hold on!”

The creature reached out for Chopra, bits falling off it just as the gravity was restored, and while everyone was holding onto something the creatures were knocked backward quite a bit by the force. The Doctor immediately climbed to his feet and tossed Nagata’s helmet back to her.

“We’re back online!” the Doctor exclaimed. “Grav-shields fixed! We’re rising! Go! Let’s get out of here!” He cried as he helped Zoe off the floor and grabbed her hand. Zoe quickly helped Clara up to her feet and they began running. “Go, go! Out of here! Come on!”

“Copra! 474!” Nagata called as she ran after the trio. “Come on!”

They ran out of the laboratory and towards the first room they could find the creatures were nowhere near. “Keep going, move it, move it, move it!” the Doctor hollered.

The Doctor opened the door to what looked to be a very sealed room and held open the door for Zoe and Clara to dart inside. Nagata lingered in the corridor peering out for Chopra or 474 but the creatures only drew closer every second she lagged. 

“Nagata!” the Doctor snapped and simply shoved her into the room.

“No, I can’t leave them!” Nagata screamed as the Doctor pushed her inside and slammed the door shut behind them. The second the door was closed, Nagata huffed out a breath and turned on her comms. “Copra. 474. May the Gods. Where are you?!”

Clara gritted her teeth as she rubbed her arms against the cold and glanced around the room. “God, of all the places! A cold store,” she huffed. “Nagata, are you okay?”

Nagata looked up simply to glare at Clara. “No.”

Clara winced slightly, but her eyes widened when she looked at Zoe and saw the girl’s neck a sickly bluish-purple. “Where’d you get that? Clara frowned, looking at Zoe’s neck. “It was just a bit pink last time I checked.”

Zoe felt her neck with furrowed brows and her eyes widened as she realized what Clara must have been talking about. “Oh, the bloody Slitheen!” Zoe moaned. “I haven’t even felt my neck aching since those creatures first started coming after us. It must have been the adrenaline.” She nodded to the Doctor. “You said yourself it would bruise over.”

“She had her arm around your neck for far too long for it to not,” the Doctor hummed. “It should fade in about three of four days,” he assured her.

Zoe winced as her arm started to burn again. She looked down and took a deep breath. “Right then, I hope you two make it through this,” she insisted.

The Doctor looked down at her with wide eyes then spotted the vortex manipulator and immediately ripped out his sonic sunglasses and placed them on her.

“What, I, Doctor?!” Zoe exclaimed.

“Before you go I need a scan. I need to work out what’s happening here,” the Doctor explained.

All of a sudden, green text flashed before her eyes.  _ ‘SCAN COMPLETE. HEALING 75%.’ _ Zoe’s heart stopped when it said healing but she let it carry out to finish healing her even as the blue light on her vortex manipulator began flashing rapidly. Once the healing was done, Zoe practically threw the sonic sunglasses back at the Doctor and only got the chance to give them all a short waved goodbye before she was sucked away.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, if you don't get what the healing means and you're readying to scream in the comments that the sonic wouldn't actually be able to heal people, I know. Trust me, I know. In this context, healing means short-circuiting the sand process or the cameras in her eyes. The sonic disabled it and basically stopped the sand from harming her sacrificing the length of the Morpheus process (instead of a month she now won't need to sleep for like two weeks) for, you know, her life and freedom not to be a human camera. I kind of had to fill in the gaps where Mark Gatiss was a bit of an idiot in this episode.


	14. Baptism of Fire

Zoe landed on her back in what looked like a sixteenth-century cottage. She furrowed her brows as she rubbed the back of her head and glanced around. Was she actually learning what places looked like in certain time periods? She didn’t expect to get a greater understanding of history traveling with the Doctor yet somehow she was.

“Zoe!” A voice just behind her exclaimed.

Zoe’s eyes widened when she realized that wasn’t a voice she’d met before which could only mean-. She turned slowly with a soft smile on her lips to greet the beaming face of the eleventh Doctor. He was by far the prettiest Doctor to her. 

Zoe felt absolutely captivated by his bright boyish smile and though she was certain other people in the room were talking, likely wondering where she came from, they were a thousand miles away as the Doctor leaned down to help her off the ground.

The Doctor’s eyes widened as he caught sight of her neck.”Ah, just after Slitheen?” His accent was similar to hers. Gods, she could melt.

“A few trips after,” Zoe breathed, her eyes never leaving his dazzling green ones. “First trip with this face.”

“Ah!” the Doctor exclaimed, grinning even brighter at her. “Well, allow me to introduce you!” He held out his hand to her and guided her towards the table where a black man in what she thought might be sixteenth-century attire stood staring at her in absolute confusion or horror, she couldn’t make out which. There was also a freckle-faced woman seated beside a man with sandy hair and she knew in an instant they had to be Amy Pond and Rory Williams.

“This is Amy Pond,” the Doctor said, gesturing to the woman.

The woman beamed at her and held out a hand for Zoe to shake. “Is this is, Doctor? You said her and I properly meet down the line,” she said in a thick Scottish accent which made Zoe beam with the memory of the Doctor she had just left.

“Because of the vortex manipulator,” Zoe answered for the Doctor with a nod. 

“Sorry, why are you being introduced?” Rory frowned. “Didn’t you meet properly back when you were a kid?” He asked Amy.

“Yeah, but she didn’t meet me,” Amy shrugged and Rory looked far more confused. “There’s a vortex manipulator on her arm,” she said and Zoe rolled up her sleeve to show it to Rory. “It makes her jump all over the Doctor’s timeline in all sorts of directions. When I was a little girl, I met a future version of her. This is the first time she’s meeting us,” Amy explained before looking up at Zoe with a soft smile. “This is Rory Williams, by the way. He’s my fiancé.”

“Fiancé?” Zoe implored with a raised brow. Her damned spotter’s guide made her think they were married once they entered the Tardis. “That’s brilliant,” she smiled softly.

“Oh, right, this is Venice 1580 and we just met some vampires,” the Doctor grinned maniacally.

Zoe squirmed delightedly and beamed at him. “Vampires?! Gods, we’ve got vampires and werewolves under our sleeve,” she hummed.

“Blimey, I never thought of it like that,” the Doctor chuckled. “Anyway, this is Guido,” he introduced waving to the man still staring at her with wide eyes. “His daughter was taken by the vampires,” he said, giving her a pointed look. Zoe got the clue. He was from that time period. “He’s helping us figure out how to reach them and stop them. Carry on, Guido,” he smiled, nodding to the man as he sat down and Zoe quickly pulled a chair to sit close to him.

“But- I just saw her- she,” Guido stammered.

“Appeared from nowhere?” the Doctor guessed with a smirk. “Yeah, she does that a lot,” he shrugged. “No need to worry yourself over it now. She’s here to help.”

“Wherever I can,” Zoe nodded.

Guido didn’t look convinced but Zoe guessed he had already seen plenty of odd things before she arrived because he simply cleared his throat and stared down at a map on the table. Zoe leaned forward to get a better look at the map as he pointed at it. 

“As I was saying, the House of Calvierri is like a fortress,” he said, pointing it out on the map. “But there’s a tunny underneath it, with a ladder and a shaft that leads up to the house. I tried to get in once myself, but I hit a trap door.”

“So, you need someone on the inside,” Zoe hummed, a small smirk on her lips.

“No,” the Doctor snapped.

“You don’t even know what she was going to say,” Amy huffed. “Or how I was probably going to agree with her,” she winced.

“She was going to suggest that we pretend she was an applicant for that school to get inside and at night open the trapdoor to let us in,” the Doctor answered without even looking up from the map.

“Amy, at this point in his timeline he’s known me for five years,” Zoe chortled.

“Oh,” Amy frowned. “So, you did know what she was going to say. But I still don’t see why we can’t do it. Zoe and I can go in together and protect each other and if the vortex manipulator takes her away before nighttime I’ll still be there to open the trapdoor!”

“Are you insane?” Rory gasped, staring at Amy with wide eyes.

“We don’t have another option,” Amy huffed.

“He said no, Amy,” Rory instructed. “Listen to him.”

“ _ He _ is not the boss of me,” Zoe hummed, flicking the Doctor on his back and making him smirk and roll his eyes at her. “He damned me enough with his DNA in this bloody vortex manipulator, and this is a good plan,” she insisted. “But given that this is sixteenth-century we need a bloke to get us into that house.”

“There is another option,” Guido proposed, pointing to the stacks of barrels sitting right behind Rory. “I work at the Arsenale. We build ships for the Navy.”

The Doctor sniffed around the barrels before wincing. “Gunpowder,” he spat.

“What, that’s your solution?” Zoe scoffed, furrowing her brows at Guido. “Blow them up?”

“Yeah, I have a thing about guns and huge quantities of explosives,” the Doctor hummed. “It’s not going to happen.” As the Doctor headed back to Guido, Rory slowly scooted away from the gunpowder before scrambling back and studying it with wide eyes making Zoe snicker.

Guido smacked his hands down on the table. “What do you suggest we do, then?!” He exclaimed. “We wait until they turn her into an animal?!”

“Amy and I would be in there for less than a day,” Zoe huffed, turning to the Doctor and raising a brow at him.

“Three, maybe four hours, tops,” Amy nodded.

The Doctor smiled at them briefly as if impressed by what they were willing to do before his eyes widened and he furiously shook his head. “No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It can’t keep happening like this. This is how they go. But I have to know,” he insisted. “We go together. Say you’re my daughters.”

“Never in a million years!” Zoe exclaimed nearly throwing up in her mouth at the idea of being the Doctor’s daughter.

“Don’t listen to him,” Rory snapped, beginning to panic now that the Doctor was on the women’s side.

“You don’t even look old enough to say we’re your daughters,” Amy scoffed. “You look about nine.”

“Brother, then,” the Doctor shrugged.

“I’d rather sit on my hands in this house waiting in silence until this vortex manipulator takes me away,” Zoe snapped.

“She’s right, that’s too weird,” Amy agreed.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Oh, honestly there’s no need to be so upset over it,” he moaned.

“Look me in the eye and tell me if I suggested pretending to be your sister you would not have an automatic reaction to it,” Zoe hummed, glaring at him and the Doctor quickly looked away from her face making Zoe snort.

“Oh, just get over it the pair of you!” Amy exclaimed. “Look, I’ll pretend to be Zoe’s sister and, Doctor, you can say you’re her fiancé. Problem solved!”

“No, hang on, no!” Rory snapped, rising to his feet and marching over to them. “I’m still not okay with this.”

Amy winced and shook her head. “No, wait, you’re right,” she murmured.

Rory’s eyes widened at that, obviously not expecting Amy to listen to him. He quickly composed himself and nodded stiffly. “Thank you.”

“I mean, they’ve already seen the Doctor,” Amy shrugged and Zoe turned to the Doctor with a raised brow making him grit his teeth. “You should do it,” Amy said to Rory.

“Me?” Rory gasped, looking at Amy, Zoe, and the Doctor with wide eyes.

“Yeah, you can be our brother,” Amy told him, nodding to Zoe who winced, realizing what Amy said likely before even she did. 

Rory noticed quick enough because his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “Why is him being your brother weird, but with me, it’s okay?”

“Actually, I’m still confused,” Guido popped in. “Is she your fiancé?” He asked pointing to Amy. “Or is she?” He asked, pointing to Zoe.

“I’m sorry,  _ what _ ?!” Zoe exclaimed, turning to the Doctor with poison in her eyes.

“Yeah, that didn’t help one bit, mate,” the Doctor winced glancing down at Zoe who looked ready to kill him.

“This whole thing is mental,” Rory huffed. “They’re vampires, for God’s sake.”

“We hope,” the Doctor murmured.

“So if they’re not vampires?” Amy implored with a raised brow.

“Makes you wonder what could be so bad it doesn’t actually mind us thinking it’s a vampire,” the Doctor said, sticking out his front teeth like a vampire.

Zoe wanted desperately to ask the Doctor what the hell Guido meant by thinking Amy was the Doctor’s fiancé but before she could even get the chance she was being escorted by Amy to follow Guido to his daughter’s room where he would have appropriate clothing for them to wear as they attempted to enroll into the school. She knew the Doctor saw the way she was so quick to get jealous and she bit her cheek. She didn’t know if anything ever happened or could happen between them and she didn’t want to show that she had feelings for him beyond friendship if she never wound up with him. 

If she was honest with herself, she’d never wanted to fall for the Doctor in the first place. It’s not as if the moment Zoe learned about the vortex manipulator and how it virtually trapped her within the Doctor’s timeline she dreamed of falling in love with him to soften the blow. 

Guido left Amy and Zoe alone in his daughter’s room to get changed and almost immediately Amy turned to Zoe.

“That was nothing, you know,” Amy said.

Zoe looked up at her with furrowed brows. “What?”

“C’mon, the second Guido mentioned thinking I was the Doctor’s fiancé, I knew it would upset you,” Amy hummed. “After all, it would upset me if he said that about you and Rory.”

“But that’s different,” Zoe shook her head.

“It really isn’t,” Amy chuckled. “You just don’t know it yet,” she murmured. “But anyway, my point is I tried to kiss the Doctor the other night. He pushed me away and told me no. It was not my finest moment after I tried again but that made him pick up Rory and take us here. This is all to say, Guido probably thinks the Doctor is my fiancé because of me, not because of him.”

Zoe eyed Amy for a brief moment as she pulled on her sixteenth-century dress and smiled. 

“Thank you,” Zoe breathed.

“Of course,” Amy shrugged.

With that, they finished getting ready and found Rory donning Guido’s clothes while Guido donned Rory’s red shirt with a heart at the center and Amy and his face inside the heart. Zoe reached out for Amy’s hand and bit her tongue to keep from laughing while Amy squeezed back tightly, clearly fighting back the same instincts. 

They headed out with the Doctor and Rory as the Doctor went through the plan with them once again right up until they got close enough to the school for anyone peering outside to get a good look at him. 

He practically begged them to keep safe and insisted it would only be for three hours before he left to head back to Guido’s.

The three of them headed into the school together and it was only then that Zoe started to feel afraid once the Doctor was no longer by her side. She was heading into a school of vampires where anything could happen for the next three hours and the Doctor wouldn’t be able to do a thing? But should she always rely on the Doctor to save her? The Doctor may be an ageless alien but because of him and because of that vortex manipulator she was ageless as well and had a bit of alien in her and she was certain she didn’t know enough to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders constantly. While the Doctor had certainly seen more than her in his hundreds of years of traveling, that didn’t mean he was the perfect clever man always knowing exactly what to do and when to do it.

Like any human, she knew the Doctor could easily make mistakes or crumble under pressure. It should be clear based on the fact that he reacted so easily with the first emotion that arose in him. She saw that as bright as day on Skaro and she knew there would be plenty more times where she did see it again.

Perhaps, she needed to learn to depend on herself when she was afraid.

After Rory awkwardly flashed the Doctor’s psychic paper to the steward, they were invited into what looked to be a throne room where a woman with dark curly hair sat on a throne where a man with pasty white skin leaned on it. The steward stood off to their right, stiff-backed with his hands behind him awaiting orders.

“So, basically, both of our parents are dead from getting the plague,” Rory exclaimed, squirming where he stood. “I'm a gondola driver, so money's a bit tight, so having my sisters go to your school for special people would be brilliant. Cheers.”

Was Rory sweating? Zoe rolled her eyes. This was going marvelously.

Strangely, the pasty man seemed to take an interest in Amy and was looking at her with furrowed brows, standing up straighter rather than leaning on the throne.

He tilted his head curiously at Amy. “Have we met?”

“I’ve just got one of those faces,” Rory frowned.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” the man muttered as he began walking towards them. 

“She’s got the same face!” Rory exclaimed as the man began to march towards Amy. “Which is why she’s my sister,” he chuckled nervously.

“Carlo, explain yourself!” the woman snapped at the steward. “Why have you brought me this imbecile?”

“Signora, they have references from His Majesty the King of Sweden,” Carlo attempted to explain himself.

Zoe bit her tongue to keep from laughing. She didn’t even know who the King of Sweden was in 1580.

“What?” Signora gasped, looking to the trio with wide eyes. “Let me see,” she implored, holding out her hand.

Rory just stood there staring blankly at the Signora for a good moment while the pasty man circled Amy disgustingly. Zoe had to nudge Rory roughly with her shoulder to remind him that he was the one who carried those references.

Rory let out a soft, “oh,” and pulled out the psychic paper before handing it over to the Signora.

Just as the Signora read the psychic paper, the pasty man seemed to notice Zoe’s presence and every muscle in Zoe’s body went on alert as he began moving towards her next. 

“Well, now I see what got my Steward so excited,” Signora beamed, passing the psychic paper back to Rory. “What say you, Franceso? Do you like them?”

Francesco made a strange breathy sound near Zoe’s ear that made her want to puke out her insides.

“Oh, I do. Mother, I do,” Francesco breathed.

“Then we should be delighted to accept them,” Signora hummed. “Say goodbye to your sisters.”

Carlo rushed up to hustle Rory away and all Rory could do was stammer awkwardly as he was carried away, no words in his mouth for a proper goodbye.

“Tell Uncle Doctor we’ll see you both really soon, okay?!” Amy called as Rory was dragged out of the door. “We’ll be fine,” she shrugged, but something about the way Zoe’s stomach turned disagreed with Amy’s sentiment.

* * *

Carlo guided Amy and Zoe into the school and immediately Zoe felt like she had just walked onto the set of a horror movie. The only light was from the fires of torches around the place and the only sounds outside of their footsteps were the girls of the school hissing or giggling at Amy and Zoe’s appearance. The woman looked like perfect vampire movie characters in sixteenth-century nighties with pale skin and hair brushed as it would be in the eighties, extremely enlarged. 

Carlo led them up a large winding staircase made of stone into a room with several beds and various women in it. 

“There are clothes on the beds,” Carlo muttered. “Get changed and wait here.”

Carlo nodded for all the other women in the room to leave and they followed him out before he closed the door. Amy and Zoe shared a look and stared up at the ceiling where there was a large, ornately decorated dome.

“Blimey, this is private education, then?” Amy murmured and Zoe chortled.

“Just shows what schools with money can give to you,” Zoe hummed and Amy smirked and nodded.

Beside Zoe’s bed, one woman remained in the room sitting as still as death on the edge of her bed.

Zoe tapped Amy’s arm and gestured to the woman.

“Hey,” Zoe attempted to smile kindly to the woman’s back. “Hi, I-I’m Zoe and this is Amy,” she said waving to the redhead by her side.

“Hello,” Amy said.

“What’s your name?” Zoe asked.

“Isabella,” the woman answered in a breath.

Amy’s eyes widened and she smacked Zoe’s arm.  _ ‘His daughter,’ _ she mouthed and Zoe felt her heart stop. She hadn’t seen much of Guido’s attempts to find his daughter but based on him already knowing the layout of the school and how ready he was to blow the place up, she knew he was desperate to find the girl so easily sitting before them.

Zoe and Amy both simultaneously sat down on Isabella’s bed.

“Listen to me, we’re going to get you out of here but we need you to tell us what’s going on,” Amy instructed. “What is this place? What are they doing?”

“Have you seen anything that might help us figure this all out?” Zoe added with a nod.

“They er, they come at night,” Isabella murmured. “They gather around my bed, and they take me to a room with this green light and a chair with straps, as if for a surgeon.”

“What happens in there?” Zoe asked, her voice tight anxious of what the answer may be.

Isabella looked at Zoe and Amy and shook her head. “I wake up here. And the sunlight burns my skin like candle wax.”

Zoe and Amy shared a look, both uncertain of what they could possibly say but both just a bit more scared than they had been as, somewhere in the distance, a bell tolled.

* * *

It was later into the night after all the women had fallen asleep when Zoe woke Amy up for them to head down and open up the trapdoor. They had both changed out of their clothes and were in the sixteenth-century nighties that all the other women in the house wore. Zoe was lucky enough to have a nightie with sleeves so nobody could catch her vortex manipulator on her arm. 

Zoe picked up a candle to light their way as they headed down to the basement wordlessly, both too scared of being caught to make a single noise. 

The basement was a cold and dank place but Zoe supposed that was just a side effect of living in a stone house in the sixteen-century owned by creepy vampires. The house has got to have a creepy and gross basement to lure you into.

The trapdoor wasn’t guarded, but Zoe supposed that was purely due to the large metal bolts keeping it locked and the fact that they likely transformed every girl who arrived so she wouldn’t even want to unlock those metal bolts and leave.

Zoe and Amy looked at each other and Zoe passed Amy the candle so she could hold it out for Zoe to see what she was doing before Zoe leaped onto the trapdoor and unlocked the metal bolts, wincing at the loud clanking noise they made once she unlocked them.

Just as she started to turn back to Amy she heard the girl let out a squeal and then the sound of the candle smashing on the ground.

“Let me go!” Amy screamed and Zoe’s eyes widened. 

She immediately began moving quieter as she slid away from where she had been sitting on the trapdoor so they wouldn’t be able to immediately grab her. They were going to take her next once they found her in the darkness. She took a deep breath and forced her brain to think even as she began to panic when she heard heavy footfalls growing closer to her. 

The Doctor would be coming through that trapdoor and he’d wonder where Zoe and Amy were. The smashed candle was a good message but she needed something clear. An unmistakable sign that she and Amy were taken. 

Zoe ripped the bottom of her nightie and as the footsteps drew even closer her fingers worked faster than she even thought they could as she tied the bottom of the nightie around the handle to open the trapdoor.

The moment the knot was sealed, a pair of hands grabbed her arms and she screamed as they dragged her backward to accompany Amy.

Zoe dragged her feet desperately trying to yank herself out of the person’s grasp to no avail. She was pulled down some steps into a room just like Isabell had warned them about with bright green lighting. 

Amy was already there, squirming in Carlo’s arms. “Take your hands off me!” She hollered.

In the light, Zoe was able to look back and see her kidnapper was none other than the creep Francesco. Zoe groaned and rolled her eyes. Why did it have to be him? At this rate, she would have rathered Carlo.

“Psychic paper,” Signora snapped, smirking cruelly at Zoe and Amy. “Did you really think that would work on me?

Along the walls of the room, all the girls Zoe guessed were completely transformed (unlike Isabella) were watching them with their fangs out, but completely emotionless. In the center of the room, there was not just one chair with straps like Isabella had told them but two. One for Zoe and one for Amy.

Zoe looked at Amy with wide eyes and the way the girl was breathing heavily looking at the room like it was her execution chamber, she knew the redhead was just as frightened of what was to come.

“Where are you from?!” Signora snapped, marching around to glare at them. “Did you fall through the Chasm?”

“Mother, this is pointless,” Francesco huffed. “Let’s just start the process,” he murmured, pushing Zoe’s hair off her shoulder and breathing heavily against her neck making her squirm away from him as best she could.

“Hold your tongue, Francesco!” Signora barked. “I need to know what these girls are doing in a world full of savages with psychic paper. Who are you with?” She wondered, peering curiously at the bruises on Zoe’s neck. “Did you get attacked on your way here?” She asked, glancing between Zoe and Amy. “You see, I scarcely believe your idiot brother sent you, so what are you doing in my school?”

The women surrounding the room moved forward and hung two hooks from the ceiling as well as one drip bag from each hook.

“Okay, I’ll tell you,” Amy gasped. “We’re from Ofsted. Those bruises are from why my partner was attacked by a student.”

Signora just laughed at Amy’s lie. “Put them in the chairs.”

“No!” Amy screamed as Carlo pushed her towards one of the chairs. “No! Take your hands off me!”

“Wait! Wait! Hold on a second!” Zoe cried. Signora held up a hand to stop Carlo and Francesco in their tracks, smirking at Zoe, she raised a brow. Zoe gulped sharply, never blinking as she met Signora’s eyes. “Take me first,” she requested, her voice somehow calm as she could hear her heartbeat screaming in her ears and every muscle in her body started to tremble. “Leave her be.”

“No! Zoe!” Amy hollered, trying to lurch towards Zoe but being pulled back by Carlo. 

Signora seemed intrigued and slowly her smirk morphed into a smile. “Very well,” she hummed.

“No! Zoe! Stop! Let her go!” Amy screamed as Francesco dragged Zoe towards one of the chairs and blood was poured into the drip bag.

“Oh, you and your sister just wish to make sport of me, don’t you?” Signora smiled. “Tease me as if I were your dog,” she muttered as she turned her back to Zoe and Amy. “Well, this dog has a bite.”

When Signora turned around she had the fangs that all the women in the room and Francesco had. As Zoe tried to move so Signora wouldn’t have access to her neck, Francesco pulled her head back forcibly making Zoe’s neck ache and Signora came at her full force whilst hissing.

Zoe screamed at the top of her lungs as she felt the first bite into the bruised flesh on her neck. Gradually as Signora kept her fangs into Zoe’s neck and Amy yelled herself hoarse, Zoe began to feel extremely thirsty. It was odd but she started to feel like she hadn’t had a drop of water in ages. She just needed a small sip of water, just something to help with this awful thirst.

Finally, mercifully, Signora backed away and wiped off Zoe’s blood.

Francesco delicately traced the fang marks in Zoe’s neck and Zoe didn’t even have it in her to flinch away from his touch. If only she could get something to  _ drink _ .

“Mother, where you drink from here, may we share?” Francesco asked and Zoe squeezed her eyes shut just wishing for it to be over. She was scared, so terribly scared and she wanted to be back in the Tardis where it was safe. “I’m so thirsty,” Francesco gasped.

“Of course, darling,” Signora smiled, turning back with human teeth.

It was only seconds before Francesco’s teeth descended on her neck and Amy was practically sobbing out Zoe’s name. Slowly, any saliva left in Zoe’s mouth evaporated and Zoe began to grow so tired. It wasn’t the sort of tired she felt after a long day or work or school but rather the kind of tired she felt after a workout or a long run like nothing could be better than an ice-cold drink and the chance to just lay down on a comfy bed for a few hours.

Eventually, Francesco tore his fangs out of her neck and Zoe was so weary she could hardly focus.

“This is how it works,” Signora explained. “First, we drink you until you’re dry. Then we fill you with our blood. It rages through you like a fire, changing you, until one morning you awake and your humanity is a dream now faded.”

“Or you die,” Francesco sighed and Zoe rolled her eyes. He was quite an optimist. “That can happen.”

“And if she survives?” Amy implored with a raised brow. Zoe had begun to forget she was in the room once her screams for Zoe had died out.

“Then there are ten thousand husbands waiting in the water,” Signora hummed.

“Sorry,” Zoe gasped, fighting to get some kind of saliva in her mouth when she spoke. “I’m sort of only interested in one person at the moment.” Zoe used all the strength she had left in her and kicked furiously at Signora’s leg.

Francesco immediately wrapped his arm around her neck but luckily not tight enough to strangle her, rather just to keep her in place.

Signora flung her dress back and revealed a tiny purple device but when she reached for it her hands were like very long and very sharp claws and Zoe looked up with wide eyes to see a sort of fish woman snarl at her. Signora fixed the device and her human form was back.

The Signora began to lean toward her once again and Zoe panicked worrying that she might bite her once more, beginning to lean back in the chair even as Francesco kept his arm around her neck.

She almost cried when she heard a loud voice and a familiar voice call, “oh! Rory, come on!”

It only takes a few seconds before everyone in the room bolts out to go after the Doctor and Rory. Zoe finally allows the ache and dehydration to set in her bones as she lazily tried to pull herself out of the chair.

Amy bolted over and immediately began undoing the straps on her left arm.

“I think she’s some sort of fish vampire,” Zoe gasped. “It feels like they sucked all the water out of me.”

“We need to get to the Doctor,” Amy muttered as she furiously pulled apart the straps.

Zoe screamed as another figure appeared over her right arm but let out a soft sigh when she realized it was just Isabella.

“She bit her!” Amy cried and Isabella looked over with wide eyes as she worked to undo the strap on Zoe’s right arm.

“She’ll be weak for a bit,” Isabella murmured. “I always fall asleep right after. We’ll have to help her walk.”

Amy nodded as they both finished undoing Zoe’s straps and right as Zoe stood up she started to wobble. Each of the women took one of her arms and helped her run out of the room.

“Wait,” Zoe gasped as Isabella tried to turn them to the left. “The Doctor was down that way,” she said, nodding to the right.

“She’s right,” Amy said. “Stay here, we just need to grab him and we’ll come back down this way.”

“Hurry,” Isabella breathed. “The entire school knows what’s happening.”

Amy nodded and carried Zoe down the corridor towards the Doctor and Rory.

“Rory,” Amy beamed.

“Amy,” River gasped.

“Doctor,” Zoe smiled lazily as Amy placed her in his arms.

“What happened to you?” the Doctor muttered, gently pressing the bite marks in her neck. He picked her up bridal style, tossing a long UV light to Rory which Rory then used to keep the vampires at bay. Zoe threw her arms around his neck as he carried her but leaned back slightly so he could see the bite marks better.

“She bit me,” Zoe exclaimed, swallowing once again to try and find some liquid in her body. “Isabella said I’d be weak for a bit.”

“Isabella?” the Doctor furrowed his brows, scoffing with a small smile.

“Quickly, through here!” Isabella screamed to them from down the corridor.

The Doctor chuckled softly and shook his head. “Ah, you clever girl,” he hummed and they took off running down the corridor towards a heavy wooden door.

Isabella pushed it open for them with some difficulty before running down the tunnel with each of them following. The Doctor turned around at the door he had closed behind him and smirked down at Zoe.

“Can you pass me my screwdriver?”

Zoe nodded and slowly reached into his coat to pull out his screwdriver. She placed her hands back around his neck as he smiled in thanks and used his arm holding up her legs to sonic the door shut.

“They’re not vampires by the way,” Zoe informed him.

“What?” the Doctor frowned.

“She’s right,” Amy nodded. “We saw her. We saw them. They’re not vampires, they’re aliens!”

The Doctor snickered and shook his head. “Classic,” he hummed while Zoe and Amy laughed.

“That’s good news?!” Rory exclaimed with wide eyes. “What is wrong with you people?!”

The three of them continued to laugh as they all ran to escape the school. Isabella held the final door open for them so they could all escape the school in the blinding light of the morning.

“Quickly, quickly!” Isabella cried. “Get out!”

They all ran forward past Isabella and the Doctor peered at Zoe. 

“Do you think you can stand?” He murmured to her.

Zoe took a shaky breath, grit her teeth, and nodded. “I can try.”

The Doctor beamed at her in pride and slowly lowered her to her feet. She was shaky, but with his hand in hers, she was able to stand. 

However, she was grateful that everyone had offered to help her run because she knew that she wouldn’t have been able to run through those corridors immediately after being bitten without falling flat on her face several times.

They looked up to find Isabella attempting to join them but recoiling awfully in the sunlight.

“Isabella, come on,” the Doctor pleaded, heading up the steps and holding out a hand to her. “Run.”

“I can’t,” Isabella gasped. 

The vampire women reappeared and tugged Isabella back inside the school, slamming the door shut behind them.

Zoe used the railings on the stairs to pull herself up as she stared with wide eyes while the Doctor slammed on the door furiously hoping to pull Isabella back out of the school.

Zoe joined him, knocking on the door as hard as she could until electricity shocked across her body and she felt every muscle trembling before her mind eventually gave out and she collapsed into darkness.

* * *

Amy had watched over them. In the gondola ride back and in Guido’s home she had been the one never taking her eye off them as Rory and Guido went to change back into their ordinary clothes Amy had kept Zoe’s ordinary clothes as well as her own by her side and kept a steady eye on them.

Eventually, Guido popped in briefly to offer her a mug of something hot she didn’t even question before mumbling out a thanks and beginning to sip it.

On Guido’s bed, Zoe and the Doctor rolled toward each other. They did so in the gondola as well, letting out soft noises of discontent if they weren’t content with hour close they were. 

Amy was frustrated by how much it got under her skin. Zoe hadn’t even experienced Amy’s childhood with them yet but Amy remembered quite vividly on desperately she had yearned to be like the pair of them growing up. No one had ever been good enough for her because she had always felt doomed to compare her relationship with them to Zoe and the Doctor. 

She had wanted to be exactly like Zoe and the Doctor in every way and it took her until she was nearly eighteen before she realized that wasn’t possible.

That was also around the time Rory’s interest in her became painstakingly obvious and she opened herself up to the possibility of a relationship that would suit her and make her happy rather than trying to make her happiness identical to someone else’s.

When the Doctor had come back for her, he had been alone and suddenly all that work Amy had sought to do on herself vanished the second he showed his face. God, she rolled her eyes at the thought. It made her feel so pathetic. Admitting the second the Doctor showed up again she was completely gone. She wondered if Zoe disappearing, from what she later found out was simply the vortex manipulator ripping her away the minute the Doctor left to stabilize the Tardis engines, had anything to do with her returned interest, and then feeling even more disgusting than before, she banished the thought from her brain.

She’d convinced herself somewhere in her trips with the Doctor after he came back for her and Zoe never reappeared, that he might be single again and he was far more interesting and exciting than Rory had been, so why shouldn’t she take a chance? A bit down the line she had found the courage to ask what had happened to Zoe and he Doctor took the time to explain.

Zoe’s vortex manipulator took her where it pleased. She never got a say in it. She was stuck scrambling through his timeline like driving down the road at night with no headlights on. 

Somehow at that point, she still wasn’t deterred from her interest in the Doctor. The idea that Zoe could pop in at any moment and be furious with her never seemed to bother her. It was only when Zoe arrived that she realized the awful turns her mind had taken and the things she was willing to stoop to.

Still, as she stared at the Doctor and Zoe wrapped up in each other’s arms and sleeping peacefully, she knew even if there had been no Rory, even if she hadn’t been stooping to such an awful place on her wedding night, she never would have stood a chance. It was probably the Doctor’s DNA in that vortex manipulator forcing Zoe to always stray towards him, but that hardly meant a thing when Amy looked at them. They looked at peace with each other in a way she had never seen the Doctor look. It was as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders but when Zoe was around he finally got to share the weight and it allowed him to relax for once.

A soft groan came from the bed and Amy’s eyes widened as she scrambled to straighten her posture, peering around to try and work out who had woken up.

Her question was soon answered when Zoe rolled over and rubbed her hands over her face. She sat up with a soft sigh, the Doctor’s hand still in her lap as she slept.

Zoe spotted Amy watching her and smiled softly at her. “You know, I really think I’m getting a baptism of fire traveling with the Doctor.”


	15. Alien Fish People

After the Doctor woke up he immediately went to see Signora Calvierri to interrogate her on what she planned to do and, Zoe hoped, figure out how to get those bite marks out of her neck. She really didn’t fancy becoming a fish person. The Doctor returned and informed them all that Signora Calvierri was indeed a fish alien who’s planet had died and fled to come there.

He then proceeded to whip out his sonic screwdriver and use it on Zoe’s bite marks. Strangely, Zoe felt the bite marks disappear after the Doctor used the sonic on them.

The Doctor pulled his sonic up and narrowed his eyes at the readings. “You’re fine,” he murmured. “Bit of dehydration but your body’s already repairing itself with the water,” he said, nodding to the water Zoe had out in front of her. “Open wide,” he implored. Zoe did as he instructed and he placed a humbug on her tongue.

She smiled, confused but delighted by the burst of flavor.

The Doctor furrowed his brows and she was beginning to recognize that look he got when he was lost in thought. He kneeled down beside her and pulled up the sleeve of her turtleneck jumper so delicately she would have thought a feather brushed her skin.

He started to scan the vortex manipulator and Zoe’s eyes widened as she saw the usually perpetually blue light was off.

The Doctor pulled up his sonic and took a deep breath, smiling softly. “As I thought,” he murmured. “The vortex manipulator was powered down by the electricity. It sent the systems into a sort of shock. Now, it has an internal power source so it will eventually reboot. When that was being made for you they made sure it was virtually indestructible,” he huffed, working his jaw as he glared at the vortex manipulator. “Nevertheless, you have a lot more time here than I’ll bet you’ve had in one place for a bit.”

Zoe wanted to start bawling right then and there. “Really?” She gasped, glancing down at the vortex manipulator.

The Doctor’s eyes when he looked at her were somehow a mixture of pure, empty sadness and pure warmth. “Really,” he nodded, smiling up at her. 

Zoe couldn’t help but throw her arms around him and hug him as tightly as she could muster and he held her back just as fiercely. Eventually, they pulled apart and the Doctor gazed at her with overwhelming amounts of tenderness in his eyes. It almost gave her whiplash how quickly his eyes hardened as he straightened up and began running his fingers through his arm, pacing Guido’s dining room.

“Argh! I need to think! Come on, brain. Think, think, think,” he huffed, smacking his head as he plopped down in the chair at the head of the table, sitting right in between Zoe and Rory. “Think!”

“Don’t smack your head, that won’t help!” Zoe exclaimed.

“Well, I can try,” the Doctor moaned.

“I really don’t understand the school thing,” Rory frowned. 

“Stop talking, brain thinking, hush,” the Doctor snapped, placing his hand over Rory’s mouth.

“If they’re fish people that explains why they hate the sun,” Amy proposed.

The Doctor nodded for Zoe to cover Amy’s mouth and Zoe rolled her eyes as she lightly placed her hand over Amy’s mouth.

“Stop talking, brain thinking, hush,” the Doctor instructed once again.

Guido smacked his hand down on the table. “I say we take the fight to them.”

“Ah, ah, ah!” the Doctor snapped.

“What?” Guido frowned.

The Doctor tried nodding to Rory but Rory just furrowed his brows at him. 

“Cover Guido’s mouth,” Zoe translated.

Rory rolled his eyes and sighed deeply but did it just as Guido opened his mouth likely to ask them why they thought they needed to cover his mouth.

The Doctor sighed as if he could finally have a bit of peace before he started to speak. “Her planet dies, so they flee through a crack in space and time and end up here. Then she closes off the city and, one by one starts changing people into creatures like her to start a new gene pool. Got it,” he nodded. “But then what? They come from the sea. They can’t survive forever on land, so what’s she going to do?”

“Wouldn’t she just do something to the environment to make sure they can survive in it?” Zoe frowned. “I mean once she’s got enough people the next logical step would be to give them a place to live in.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened and he beamed at her. “She said I should bend the heavens to save my race,” he remembered. His eyes flicked away and he furrowed his brows as he thought. “Bend the heavens,” he murmured. “Bend the heavens. She’s going to sink Venice!”

“She- She’s going to  _ sink _ Venice?” Guido frowned.

“And repopulate it with the girls she’s transformed,” the Doctor chuckled softly.

“You can’t repopulate somewhere with just women,” Rory furrowed his brows. “You need blokes.”

“But she’s got blokes,” Zoe gasped, turning to Amy with wide eyes. 

“Where?” the Doctor asked.

“In the canal,” Amy answered. “She told Zoe that there are ten thousand husbands waiting for her in the water,” she told them and Zoe was grateful she left out how Zoe responded.

“Only the male offspring survived the journey here,” the Doctor hummed. “She's got ten thousand children swimming around the canals, waiting for Mum to make them some compatible girlfriends,” he said and Zoe winced and stuck out her tongue. That’s disgusting. “Urgh. I mean, I've been around a bit, but really that's, that's eugh.”

All of a sudden, there was a very loud thud from the roof and each of their heads shot up. The thudding continued and then they heard what sounded like footsteps.

“The people upstairs are very noisy,” the Doctor remarked and just for a moment, Zoe allowed herself to be that there might just be people upstairs.

“There aren’t any people upstairs,” Guido said, ruining her delusion.

“Do you know, I knew you were gonna say that,” the Doctor smiled. “Did anyone else know he was gonna say that?” He asked, glancing at Zoe who faked a smile to keep up his lively energy through her nerves.

“Is it the vampires?” Rory gasped. 

“Like I said, they’re not vampires,” the Doctor said as he pulled out his large UV light from nowhere and turned it on. “Fish from space.”

Right as he said that one of the doors opened and one of the fish women came in hissing at them. Some glass broke from another window the fish women had likely passed before they all converged on one window, hissing but moving as if they were walking on the ground. 

“Aren’t we on the second floor?” Rory murmured with furrowed brows.

The fish women smashed the window, all trying to get in at once while they hissed and the Doctor kept his UV light trained on them while he pulled out his sonic with his other hand and used it to reveal their true appearance. They all looked similar to Signora Calvierri.

“What’s happened to them?” Guido asked.

“There’s nothing left of them. They’ve been completely converted,” the Doctor sighed, using his sonic one more time to change them back. “Okay, move!” He called.

“Come on,” Rory huffed, grabbing Amy’s hand.

The Doctor nodded for Zoe to run in front of him and Guido took up the rear of the group as they darted down the steps.

“Give me the lamp,” Guido requested as the fish women moved quickly to follow them.

The Doctor passed the UV light to Guido without question and Guido used it to keep the women back while they all bolted out, except once they reached the front door Guido didn’t run out with them.

Zoe and the Doctor noticed this at the exact same moment, they looked at each other and then simultaneously bolted back to the door just as Guido slammed it in their face.

“Stay away from the door, you two!” Guido bellowed.

“No,” the Doctor gasped. “Guido, what are you doing?!”

“Guido, come on! Come out with us!” Zoe begged, slamming her hands on the door.

“We’re not leaving you,” the Doctor insisted as he pulled out his screwdriver. “What are you doing?!” He tried to use the screwdriver on the door but it was useless. “Ah, deadbolts, and wood. It’s always deadbolts and wood,” he huffed as he shoved the sonic back into his coat.

Zoe would’ve laughed at him but her body was too tight with worry over Guido. She backed up and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Guido!” She bellowed.

Suddenly, the Doctor latched onto her arm and began tugging her away.

“Doctor?” Zoe frowned. “What is it? What-?”

“Remember all that gunpowder in Guido’s house? And how he kept insisting we fight them head-on?” the Doctor reminded her with a raised brow.

Zoe’s heart dropped into her stomach as she understood his meaning. “No,” she breathed. “No, he can’t!” She cried while the Doctor took her hand running her away even as she stared back at Guido’s house helplessly. 

Before Zoe could even try to pull back and insist on her and the Doctor finding another way in and another way to help Guido, the house exploded knocking her and the Doctor off their feet.

Zoe’s ears rang for a few minutes as she squeezed her eyes and tried to wave the smoke out of her face. Immediately, the Doctor had a hand on her and was brushing her hair out of her face asking if she was okay. Zoe nodded numbly as she continued to try and get her bearings. She took a deep breath and the Doctor helped her to her feet right as Amy and Rory arrived, staring at the blown-up house with wide eyes.

As if things needed to get any worse, thunder crackled across the sky and they all looked up to find most of the sky covered in thick black smoke.

“Rosanna’s initiating the finale phase,” the Doctor hummed as they stared up at the sky.

“We need to stop her,” Amy nodded. “Come on,” she said, already turning to leave.

“No, no, no,” the Doctor shook his head and Zoe looked at him with wide eyes. “Get back to the Tardis.”

“You can’t stop her on your own!” Amy exclaimed, looking to Zoe helplessly as if there were anything Zoe could do.

“We don’t discuss this!” the Doctor snapped. “I tell you to do something, Amy, and you do it. Huh?” He prompted, raising a brow at her.

Amy clenched her jaw and, without saying a word, she turned around and stormed off.

Rory looked after her with wide eyes before briefly turning back to the Doctor. “Thank you,” he murmured before he ran after Amy.

“You’re welcome,” the Doctor mumbled.

Zoe marched up to his side, arms crossed. “If you try to tell me to go into the Tardis, I’m gonna smack you so hard you regenerate.”

The Doctor snorted and shook his head. “I should, you know. At least you’d be safe there.”

“I’m beginning to realize safe and happy can be two mutually exclusive things,” Zoe hummed, looking up to grin at him. “Let’s go, eh?”

The Doctor grinned down at her and nodded as he took her hand and they bolted towards the House of Calvierri.

Once they arrived, they were able to walk straight in without an issue as the house was left undefended in the midst of the chaos unraveling. They headed for the throne room immediately and the Doctor began peering around the large throne for something Zoe didn’t understand.

“When I was here I knew there was something wrong with this throne,” the Doctor explained as he flipped the back of it open and revealed what looked like distinctly alien technology whirring. “Ah, there it is! This has to have something to do with the storm.” He tried to sonic it but nothing worked.

“You’re too late,” a voice behind them announced and they both looked back to see Rosanna Calvierri beaming at them. 

The Doctor gave her a wide-eyed look and Zoe quickly understood the command: figure out how to disconnect that throne.

“Such determination, just to save one city,” Rosanna hummed as the Doctor leered down at her. “Hard to believe it's the same man that let an entire race turn to cinders and ash,” she said and Zoe did her best to fight back her expression of pure shock. It seemed like that was going to be something she’d have to wait for the Doctor to explain to her once he felt good and ready. “Now you can watch as my people take their new kingdom.”

“The girls have gone, Rosanna,” the Doctor murmured and Zoe winced at the thought of how they were gone.

Rosanna stumbled back a few steps, trembling as she looked up at the Doctor. “You’re lying,” she breathed.

“Shouldn’t we be dead, hmm?” the Doctor implored with a raised brow. Rather than respond, Rosanna just began storming out of the room. “Rosanna, please, help us,” the Doctor begged. “There are two hundred thousand people in this city!” He cried.

“So save them!” Rosanna snapped as she left.

The Doctor groaned and turned back to the throne Zoe was working on while he pulled out his sonic. “Have you gotten anywhere?” He mumbled as he tried to use his sonic on it.

“I got one light off,” Zoe shrugged. “So basically, no.”

The Doctor sighed heavily and continued trying to use his sonic on it but let out a cry of frustration as nothing worked. Above them, thunder rumbled even louder than before and the Doctor took a few steps back as he looked up and listened to it.

“I need to check how far the storm’s gotten,” the Doctor breathed.

Zoe looked at him with wide eyes. “And how am I supposed to work with this?!” She exclaimed, waving towards the throne.

The Doctor fished into his coat pocket and tossed her the sonic screwdriver which she caught with quite a bit of fumbling.

“Try settings; 41, 61, and 73A. They’re the only ones I haven’t tried yet that stand any chance of working,” the Doctor instructed.

“O-Okay,” Zoe frowned.

With that, the Doctor bolted out of the room. Zoe fumbled around with the screwdriver for a few minutes trying to figure out how it worked. Once she started to have a good understanding of it, she used setting 41 on the chair. The lights on the chair flickered but ultimately remained on and Zoe let out an irritated huff. Next, she used setting 61 with the same effect.

Just before she could use setting 73A, Rory and Amy burst into the room completely drenched and the Doctor bolted in from another door only slightly wet.

“It’s raining now,” the Doctor huffed. He saw Amy and Rory in the room and immediately his eyes widened. “Get out. We need to stabilize the storm!”

“I’ve tried everything but 73A,” Zoe called to him and the Doctor nodded as he marched back over to Zoe.

“We might need to start pulling out some wires too if this is gonna work,” the Doctor told her, completely ignoring Amy and Rory’s presence.

“We’re not leaving the two of you,” Rory insisted.

The Doctor looked back at Rory with venom in his eyes that made even Zoe wince. “Right, so one minute it's all you make people a danger to themselves, and the next it's we're not leaving you,” he snapped. “But if one of you gets squashed or blown up or eaten, who gets the-.”

He was cut off by the entire building shaking and throwing them off their feet while Zoe was thrown flat onto her face.

“Oh, great,” Zoe moaned as she pulled herself back up and continued trying to use the sonic on the throne. “It’s getting worse,” she huffed.

“What was that?!” Rory exclaimed.

“Nothing,” the Doctor shrugged.

“Doctor,” Zoe hummed in warning.

“Bit of an earthquake,” the Doctor answered honestly this time.

“An earthquake?!” Amy cried as she pulled herself to her feet.

“Manipulate the elements, it can trigger earthquakes,” the Doctor explained with a nod. “But don’t worry about them.”

“No?” Rory implored with a small frown.

“No, worry about the tidal waves cause my the earthquakes,” the Doctor sighed.

“Doctor!” Zoe exclaimed, spinning around and tossing him the sonic screwdriver. “None of the settings work. Nothing works.”

“Right,” the Doctor muttered, turning back to face Amy and Rory. “Rosanna's throne is the control hub but she's locked the program, so, tear out every single wire and circuit in the throne. Go crazy. Hit it with a stick, anything. We need it to shut down and re-route control to the secondary hub, which I'm guessing will also be the generator.”

“What?!” Zoe furrowed her brows. “Where’s that?!”

* * *

Zoe stared up at the bell tower with a scowl as the bells rang nonstop while people screamed and ran for their lives in the streets. Rain poured down furiously on her hair and she sighed deeply as she turned to see the Doctor beaming away at her.

“It’s always something with you, isn’t it?” Zoe said.

“You love it,” the Doctor grinned.

Zoe didn’t speak as the Doctor grabbed her hand and tugged her into the bell tower because she knew with this man knowing far more about her than she knew about him, she was likely to be caught in a lie.

Once they got inside there was an odd grey module hooked up to several black wires, a few extending way up to the top of the bell tower. Zoe was already dreading having to make the long climb. The grey object was loudly emitting a ‘womp womp’ noise but it was far quieter than the bell clanging away at the top of the tower. The Doctor grabbed the gray object and scanned it before ultimately finding it useless, grabbing Zoe’s hand and running with her to the top of the tower.

The higher they got they wound up having to cover their ears over the deafening sound of the bell clanging. The Doctor actually took to screaming before Zoe had enough.

She took a deep breath and leaped from the railing right onto the rope in the bell. 

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Zoe screamed and eventually, mercifully, the bell stilled.

Zoe jumped back over the railing, the Doctor holding out his arms for her to make a clean jump before they followed the wires from the grey module outside.

“Ooh, don’t look down,” the Doctor sighed.

Immediately, Zoe looked down and groaned. “Oh, you had to tell me that,” she huffed and as the Doctor began climbing up the bell tower she heard him laugh.

The Doctor started to slide down due to the rain and let out soft shouts as he began to look down.

“Doctor!” Zoe screamed. “Grab onto the wire!”

“Oh, okay,” the Doctor gasped, gripping the wire and holding on tight, beginning to find his balance as they continued the climb up the tower.

They reached the top of the tower and found a convenient little platform surrounding a large brass ball at the top. Drenched in the rain with no chance of it letting up until they stopped the generator, they had to inch around the platform with extra precaution because one slip could mean they took that nasty fall to the ground.

“Here!” Zoe exclaimed once she got to the back of the brass ball. “There’s a little latch.”

The Doctor moved over to her side and they both pulled the brass ball open to reveal a bunch of spinning globes, wires, and clockwork. Zoe huffed at the sight of it.

“She couldn’t make it easy on us, could she?” Zoe muttered and the Doctor chuckled lightly.

They looked through the dizzying clockwork helplessly desperate to find a switch or a button instead of all those wires and gears.

Zoe sucked in a sharp breath when, on the top gear, she spotted a small metal switch. Without hesitating, she flicked it and suddenly everything in the brass ball stopped.

The Doctor looked to her with wide, bright eyes as the rain slowed down and began to stop altogether as the sunny day it had once been started to shine once more. The people down below started to cheer and Zoe wasn’t sure if it was the way the Doctor was looking at her at that moment or the high of the moment but before she could think to stop herself, she threw her arms around his neck and crushed her lips against his.

He was frozen in shock for a moment and Zoe’s heart began to race but before she could think to pull away, his hands were around her waist and his lips were moving against hers.

Zoe was certain she was dreaming. She was positive that this was far too good to be a dream. She was kissing the Doctor for the first time on the top of Venice after just having saved two hundred thousand people and she didn’t have the vortex manipulator to live in fear of.

When Zoe pulled away, completely breathless she almost whined when the Doctor opened his eyes and they were nearly completely black, his pupils so dilated.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” Zoe panted, even as the Doctor’s hands were still around her waist and her hands were still draped over his shoulders. “Sorry.”

The Doctor just stared at her as she scrambled away from his arms, but was that disappointment she was seeing? She shook her head to rid herself of the thought. The Doctor was a time-traveling alien who had saved the universe more times than she probably knew of. She was certain he had plenty of people he could fall in love with, why on Earth would he fall in love with her?

* * *

She stayed in the Tardis for the rest of her time with that Doctor, took fearful of interacting with him after what she had done. Amy peeked in a few times to try and goad her out only to fail and Rory popped in three times to let her know what had happened after she ran away from the Doctor and begged Rory to take her back to the Tardis. Apparently, Rosanna had died after her defeat though the Doctor wouldn’t tell him or Amy how and now Rory was traveling with Amy and the Doctor after Amy had begged it out of him which she smiled when she heard. Finally, he popped in after she heard a bunch of screaming and a door slam behind her to tell her the Doctor had yelled at Amy that he couldn’t interfere with Zoe’s timeline even if Zoe was upset and Amy hadn’t taken sacrificing Zoe’s emotions for the timeline all too well. Zoe giggled softly at that She was beginning to really like Amy Pond.

Zoe rolled around in her room for the next few hours, cursing the sleep dust she had gotten on her last trip keeping her from sleeping. This would’ve been the perfect chance. She turned to her right on her bed and her eyes widened when she spotted a small note with what looked like her handwriting.

_ Dear Past Me, _

_ If you just finished with Venice then this letter is for you. Your next trip is going to be difficult. You don’t appear near the Doctor or one of his companions. You have to save the Doctor from a completely different time period. You’ll have his messages to you to help guide you through it but that’s all you will have. I write this to you to warn you. Not much was steady the first year or so traveling with the Doctor but the letters from me always were.  _

_ Good luck. _

Zoe exhaled deeply and held the letter tight to her chest. It was beginning to become clear to her that even though the Doctor was always around when she went somewhere new, the only person she could rely on was herself. She loved all the companions she had met and every face of the Doctor had a hold on her heart that she knew now she’d never be able to shake, but they were always at different points in their timeline and she could never know if they’d know who she was or what she could talk about with them. She couldn’t exactly describe the details of all her trips with the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth Doctors to the ninth Doctor. She couldn’t know how well any of the companions knew her or if, when talking to them, she was describing things they had already heard.

It was nice to know that, at the very least, she could rely on her future self to look out for her when things got to be a bit too much.

Her arm began burning just an hour later and she didn’t even try to alert anyone. She remained on the bed, still as can be as she felt the vortex manipulator take her away once again. 


	16. The Weeping Angels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AUTHOR ERROR; Okay so I made a bit of a boo boo. During Boom Town the Doctor should have given Zoe the Tardis key as that was what I was intending but sometimes your friendly neighborhood idiot really is an idiot and it just wasn't in there. I'm going back to edit it in now but if you're just reading this update. Pretend like I mentioned him giving her the Tardis key. Ok, love you bye for now.

Zoe landed flat on her back and right as she exhaled in whatever time she was laying in, she heard a familiar voice say, “and there she is.”

She sat up with wide eyes and looked around the room. They appeared to be in a long since abandoned building with one wall bearing torn up wallpaper that read, ‘Sally Sparrow, duck now!’ Sitting in front of a laptop there was a rather beautiful woman with blonde hair and a blue shirt on while a man sat next to her with sandy hair that reminded her a bit of Rory and a file on his lap.

On the laptop was none other than the tenth Doctor with his specs on, beaming at her.

“Better late than never, eh?” the Doctor said. Then, he looked up suddenly and frowned. “Oi, Zoe, don’t-.”

All of a sudden, a future version of herself appeared on the screen and Zoe’s heart almost stopped at the sight. She didn’t look any older as the Doctor had warned her, but her hair was cut shorter and she had on a bright red shirt with a bunch of roses on it as well as a stack of large paper cards in her hands. Reading messages from herself felt completely different from seeing her future self. She felt like the world had just tilted ever so slightly on its access.

The woman and man in the room seemed to be greeting the image with wide eyes as well. 

“Is that-?” the woman murmured.

“Definitely,” the man breathed.

“Okay, listen to me the lot of you,” future Zoe snapped. “Yes, I’m the future version of her. Work through that. Now, past me. I know you got the message I left you.”

“What are you talking about?” the Doctor frowned. “That isn’t anywhere on the transcript.”

“I have a good memory, Doctor,” future Zoe moaned. “Now hush up. Past me, the people you’re in the room with are called Sally and Larry. You’re fighting creatures called the Weeping Angels. The Doctor will fill you in on those in a bit. I’m talking to you from 1969. The vortex manipulator took me here after the Doctor and Martha had already been brought here by the Weeping Angels. Yes, they transport you in time. The Doctor and Martha are both trapped here without the Tardis. You have to help that lot send it back.”

“How?” present Zoe gasped, crawling forward so she could get closer to the laptop.

“The Doctor will explain that bit as well,” future Zoe nodded. “But right now the abandoned house you’re in is rife with Weeping Angels. Now, I’ll let the Doctor take it over from here,” she smiled, backing away from the camera.

“Finally,” the Doctor huffed.

“Hang on, how come there’s two of you?” Sally frowned. “How, how is that possible?”

“People don’t understand time,” the Doctor sighed. “It’s not what you think it is.”

“Then what is it?” Sally asked.

“Complicated,” the Doctor muttered.

“Tell me,” Sally insisted. 

“Very complicated,” the Doctor said, frowning at them.

“Doctor!” Both future and present Zoe snapped.

“Right, right, right, sorry,” the Doctor huffed. He took a deep breath and focused directly on the camera. “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff,” he said, wincing at the end of that sentence.

Zoe snorted. “Sentence got away from you, did it?”

“It got away from me, yeah,” the Doctor sighed.

“Hold on, how can you sound like you’re responding to her?” Sally frowned. “You said you’re in the 1960s. You knew when she was going to arrive in a way I still don’t understand and you’re responding to us like you know what we’re going to say forty years before we say it. How, how is this possible?!” She exclaimed.

“Look to your left,” the Doctor said simply.

“What does he mean by look to your left?” Larry wondered as Zoe and Sally turned to see him writing. “I've written tons about that on the forums. I think it's a political statement.”

“He means you,” Sally sighed. “What are you doing?” She asked, walking over and picking up his notepad.

“I'm writing in both your bits,” Larry said, snatching the notepad back. “That way I've got a complete transcript of the whole conversation. Wait until this hits the net. This will explode the egg forums.”

“I’ve got a copy of the finished transcript,” the Doctor told them. “It’s on the cards Zoe is holding up.”

“It’s killing my arms,” future Zoe moaned.

“How can you have a copy of the finished transcript?” Sally wondered as she sat back down beside Zoe. “It’s still being written.”

“I told you. I’m a time traveler. I got it in the future.”

“Okay, let me get my head around this,” Sally sighed. “You're reading aloud from a transcript of a conversation you're still having. And you,” she turned to Zoe. “You’re somehow on both sides of this conversation?”

“Wibbly-wobbly, time-wimey,” the Doctor shook his head with a soft breath.

“Oh, never mind that,” Sally muttered and turned her attention back to Larry. “You can do shorthand?” She frowned at him and he shrugged.

“Not the most important discussion to be having right now,” Zoe hummed, shooting a dangerous look at them. 

“She’s right,” the Doctor said. “What matters is, we can communicate. They’ve taken the blue box, haven’t they? The angels have the phone box.”

“The angels have the phone box,” Larry chuckled. “That's my favorite, I've got it on a t-shirt.”

Zoe opened her mouth, ready to ask what sort of shirt would that be when it made sense to virtually nobody, but thinking on it she realized that could be quite the cool shirt and winced as she quickly closed her mouth. 

“Angels? As in the Weeping Angels like she said?” Sally asked, gesturing to Zoe. 

“Creatures from another world,” the Doctor hummed and Zoe’s eyes widened.

“Wait, the Weeping Angels are the statues?” She frowned, pointing towards the Angel statue sitting just outside on the patio in front of them.

“They’re just statues,” Sally scoffed.

“Only when you see them,” the Doctor said.

Zoe felt her heart beating furiously in her ears as she looked back up at that Weeping Angel, it was still the same Weeping Angel it had been when she first looked at it but she didn’t like the way the Doctor spoke about it.

“What does that mean?” Sally asked, sounding about as on edge as Zoe felt.

“The lonely assassins, they used to be called. No one quite knows where they came from, but they're as old as the universe, or very nearly, and they have survived this long because they have the most perfect defense system ever evolved. They are quantum-locked,” the Doctor explained and Zoe and Sally shared a look of pure horror. “They don't exist when they're being observed. The moment they are seen by any other living creature, they freeze into a rock. No choice. It's a fact of their biology. In the sight of any living thing, they literally turn to stone. And you can't kill a stone. Of course, a stone can't kill you either. But then you turn your head away, then you blink, and oh yes it can.”

Zoe and Sally both looked at the statue waiting outside simultaneously.

“Larry,” Zoe murmured. “Do not take your eyes off that statue out there,” she said, nodding to the statue.

Larry didn’t seem to be breathing as his eyes slowly moved towards the statue outside.

“That's why they cover their eyes,” the Doctor continued, and behind her, Zoe could hear footsteps. She looked back briefly to see shadows approaching them. Her future self said the building was littered with those Angels. They were likely coming up behind her, Sally, and Larry as the Doctor spoke.“They're not weeping. They can't risk looking at each other. Their greatest asset is their greatest curse. They can never be seen. The loneliest creatures in the universe. And Zoe, I'm sorry. I am very, very sorry. It's up to you now.”

Zoe took a deep breath and leaned forward as she grabbed the laptop. She had expected this thanks to her future self, but she needed the Doctor to guide her through.

“What do you need me to do?” Zoe asked.

The Doctor smiled quickly at the screen before he took a deep breath. “Don’t let them get inside the Tardis. If they get to the Tardis they will be unstoppable. They feast on time energy and there’s a whole world of that in the Tardis that they could feat on forever, doing enough damage to switch off the sun. Send it back to us.”

“How?!” Zoe exclaimed. “I can’t fly the Tardis.”

Instead of the Doctor answering, her future self ran back on the screen. 

“There’s no more on the transcript but I remember this bit. Take the DVDs that these videos are on. Any of them will work. You can put them in the Tardis and she’ll do the rest,” future Zoe explained.

“Thank you,” present Zoe gasped.

“Not a problem,” future Zoe smirked. “Good luck.”

“Oi, stop budging into my shot!” the Doctor exclaimed, lightly shoving her future self out of the way. 

“Oh, you’re so whiny,” future Zoe moaned and the Doctor smirked as he turned back to the camera.

“Now, as she said. There’s no more from you lot on the transcript but I know what stopped you talking. They're coming. The angels are coming for you. But listen, your life could depend on this. Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good luck,” the Doctor said before the picture froze.

“No, wait, is that it?!” Sally cried, grabbing at the laptop.

“We have enough,” Zoe insisted.

“I can rewind it if you like,” Larry offered, climbing to his feet to rewind the video on the laptop.

“No, that wouldn’t do anything!” Sally hollered. “I need to know more!”

Zoe froze as she realized she and Larry were looking at Sally and Sally was watching them but none of the three were looking at the statue.

“Guys,” Zoe swallowed sharply. “Who’s looking at the statue?”

Slowly, they all looked up to where the statue had been only to find it standing a few feet in front of them, its hands out with claws on its fingers like it was ready to grab at them. The statue’s face was snarling and they all immediately scrambled away, keeping their eyes trained on the Angel.

“Don’t look away from it,” Zoe breathed. “Not even for a second. Keep your backs against the wall.”

“There's just one, right, there's just this one,” Larry murmured nervously, beginning to trembly. “We're okay if we just keep staring at this one statue. Everything's going to be fine.”

“There are more,” Zoe shook her head. “I don’t know how many-.”

“There are three more,” Sally answered for her.

“Three?!” Larry exclaimed.

“You counted?” Zoe implored, raising a brow at the woman and smirking even as she didn’t look at her. 

Sally nodded. “They were upstairs before, but I think I heard them moving.”

“Moving where?! Three of them?! Moving where?!” Larry cried, his eyes starting to water as he stared at the statue.

Zoe took a deep breath and quickly glanced back behind them. “We can’t stay here with them moving about,” she muttered. “I’m going to look around and check if there’s any way out. You both keep looking at this one. Don’t blink. Remember what he said. Don’t blink,” she insisted.

“Who blinks?” Larry gasped. “I’m too scared to blink.”

Zoe clenched her teeth, every instinct in her body fighting back against turning around but she did so anyway and immediately ran to the first door she saw which was locked.

“Sally, do you have the key to the Tardis?” Zoe called, frowning softly.

“Why?”

“Because the Angels out here can’t know I’m here yet, but they’ve locked the doors,” Zoe answered. She ran across the corridor and tried another exit only to find it locked as well.

The Doctor had given her a Tardis key after she had requested it when they had brought Margaret the Slitheen into the Tardis to keep her captive until the morning they could bring her to Raxacoricofallipatorius. She’d handed him his takeaway and he brushed it to the side before granting her a Tardis key, but she knew the Weeping Angels couldn’t possibly know she had a key to the Tardis on her for she had only just arrived.

There was a moment of silence before Sally answered her question. “I took it from them last time I was here. The Tardis is that big blue box, right?”

“Yep,” Zoe huffed as she pulled on another locked door. “I have a Tardis key but they can’t be after that. They must be after yours since you took it from them.”

“If they’re after the key, then give them the key!” Larry exclaimed.

Zoe heard footsteps running towards her and turned around with wide eyes only to find Sally panting, stopped right in front of her.

“Have you checked the back door?” Sally asked.

“Not yet,” Zoe shook her head.

Sally nodded and ran to do just that. 

“Give them the key!” Larry hollered. “Just give them what they want!” He pleaded.

“The back door is locked!” Sally bellowed. “God, there’s one over here!”

“Keep your eyes on it!” Zoe instructed. “I’m going to check the cellar. There might be a way out in there!”

“Wait, what if they come up behind me?!” Larry cried.

“I think one Angel just came up behind me!” Sally screamed.

Zoe took a deep breath. This must be what the Doctor felt like most of the time. Everyone begging you for a way out and only so little time to figure it all out.

She pulled the door to the cellar and her heart soared once she found it open.

“The cellar door is open!” Zoe called. “There might be a way out. A delivery hatch or something.”

“Coming!” Larry exclaimed. “I can’t stay here.”

“On my way!” Sally shouted.

Zoe headed down into the cellar, tiptoeing down the steps cautious of whatever could be waiting for her down there. The first thing she saw was the Angels surrounding the Tardis. Keeping her eyes trained on them, she reached under her jumped and pulled out the Tardis necklace key. 

“This what you’re after, is it?” Zoe implored with a raised brow. “The key to all of time and space.”

Behind her, Sally and Larry ran down and the two Angels they had been around them were close behind.

“Angels on both sides, mates,” Zoe hummed, keeping one eye open while she closed the other so she could continue watching the Angels. 

Sally sucked in a sharp breath as she looked at the Angels surrounding the phone box. “Okay, boys, we know how this works,” she murmured. “You can’t move so long as we can see you.”

Zoe pulled her necklace off her neck and began marching towards the Tardis.

Sally moved quicker, rushing up to one of the walls of the Tardis so she could turn around and look at the two Angels she and Larry had brought in. Larry followed her lead and their Angels stood side by side while Sally and Larry watched them.

“Is the Doctor right?” Sally asked with a small frown. “Is the whole world really in that blue box?”

Zoe grinned at her, silently ecstatic that she got to show people the inside of the Tardis for the first time. It was a strange feeling but one she greatly looked forward to.

“I don’t see how else we’re getting out,” Larry huffed.

“Just you wait and see,” Zoe hummed as she reached the Tardis door. “I’m gonna need one of you to keep an eye on this Angel behind me as I unlock the door.”

“I’ve got you,” Sally assured her, turning towards that Angel.

“Wait, why are the Angels pointing at the lights?” Larry asked.

Right after he said that the lights began to flicker in the cellar and Zoe’s eyes widened as she shoved the key into the door.

“Oh, my God, it’s turning out the lights!” Sally screamed.

“Quickly!” Larry yelled.

The lights began to flicker rapidly and the Angels used every opportunity to move closer and closer to the three of them, snarling as they did so and Sally and Larry both began to cry out in panic as they tried to keep their eyes on the Angels but every time the lights went out they were closer.

Zoe got the key to turn the right way and gasped for air as they all stumbled inside the Tardis and slammed the door shut. Immediately, Zoe placed the key back around her neck and ran up to the console to begin scouring it for something they could put the DVD in to fly the Tardis. She glanced back briefly only to see Sally and Larry staring around at the Tardis with wide, dumbstruck eyes. She giggled.

“I told you there was a whole world in here,” Zoe grinned.

All of a sudden, on a small platform just a few feet away from the door, a hologram appeared in what looked like a sort of blue image of the Doctor. Zoe sucked in a sharp breath and combed the console for a place to put the DVD. Eventually, she found a small slot and sighed softly.

“This is security protocol seven one two. This time capsule has detected the presence of an authorized control disc, valid one journey,” the hologram Doctor said. 

Larry pulled the DVD out of his coat and it seemed to be glowing.

“Please insert the disc and prepare for departure,” the hologram Doctor requested.

“Pass it over to me,” Zoe instructed, holding out her hand.

Without hesitating, Larry moved to pass it over to her but before she could grab the disc they were tossed across the console room. Before they could even react, they were tossed again.

“It’s the Angels!” Sally screamed. “They’re trying to get in!”

Zoe used the console as leverage as she marched towards Larry while the Tardis was rocking and held out her hand. Larry was gripping tightly to the jumpseat with one hand and with the other he passed the disc to her.

Zoe once again used the Tardis to march over to the disc slot where she plopped the disc inside.

The Tardis started wheezing and she smiled at the sound, sighing softly as she patted the console.

“Save them, old girl,” she murmured.

The Tardis started to disappear and immediately Sally and Larry started to panic at the idea of being left alone with the Angels.

“What’s happening?!” Larry exclaimed.

“Oh, my God, it's leaving us behind!” Sally cried. “Doctor, no! You can't!”

“He can!” Zoe assured them. “Trust me. I know you’ve only known me for like five minutes, but trust me!” She insisted.

Larry marched over to Sally’s side and they shared a look before they turned to her warily. 

The Tardis completely disappeared and Zoe stood smiling at the Weeping Angels as they stood stuck in black snarling at them with their arms out. Sally and Larry started to scream, cowering away and likely thinking the Angels were alive.

“It’s alright,” Zoe promised. “Look at them. The Doctor tricked them into looking at each other,” she smiled. “They’re never gonna move again.”

Sally and Larry rose, looking around at the Angels frozen in place with wide eyes. They walked around the circle for a few minutes before each of them ducked under the Angels arms to leave.

“So, everything’s safe again?” Sally guessed with furrowed brows.

“Oh, not remotely,” Zoe scoffed. “The Angels weren’t just confined to these few statues. The Doctor said they were a whole race. Plenty of them have survived for ages because of their ability to become stone. I’m sure this isn’t the last of them but these were the Angels set on taking the Tardis so those were the ones we needed to defeat.”

“But they’re still out there,” Sally frowned. 

“We can’t defeat an entire race,” Zoe shook her head. “You defeat the ones trying to hurt you because they are intent on hurting you. If you went around trying to kill entire groups of people just because of the actions of a few, you’d-well, you’d be like all of humanity.”

Sally snorted handing her head as she shook it quickly. “I suppose you’re right,” she murmured. “But there are still so many questions I have.”

“Throw them at me,” Zoe grinned. “I think I still have some time,” she muttered as she pulled up the sleeve on her jumper and gazed down at her vortex manipulator like it were a watch.

“Okay, my first question is that,” Sally said, pointing towards the vortex manipulator. “What is that?”

“A vortex manipulator,” Zoe answered. “It’s a long story but I sort of can’t ever take it off and I’m stuck traveling through the Doctor’s timeline. I appear at random points, usually right before, in the middle of, or at the tail end of some sort of chaos and I’m sort of stuck like this until we can figure out who sent it to me and how to get it off.”

“That sounds like torture,” Larry remarked with a small frown.

“It has its ups and its downs,” Zoe shrugged. “The Doctor tries to help me, but my future self always guides me through what she’s already done far better than he guides me through what’s going on.”

“So, wait, how did the Doctor know when you would arrive. The exact second? Because before you arrived he stopped talking briefly in the video and then told just help was going to arrive and he said ‘just about’, and then you dropped from the sky as he said, ‘and there she is’.”

“The Doctor never knows when I’m going to arrive, but my future self would. I could have told him when I arrived easily,” Zoe shrugged.

Sally furrowed her brows, nodding as she began to understand. As she allowed the information to sink in, Zoe’s arm started to burn.

“Okay, I just have one more-,” Sally began.

“Sorry,” Zoe winced. She pulled up the sleeve for her vortex manipulator. “I have to be going.”

“Well, can’t you just stop it?” Sally frowned.

“I have no control over this,” Zoe shook her head. “It takes me where it pleases when it pleases, I’m simply along for the ride,” she shrugged.

“But I just-.”

The blue light began blinking rapidly. “I’m so sorry,” Zoe insisted. “Look, just in case keep the transcript you made and all the information about what’s happened. If you ever see the Doctor he will be incredibly grateful that you have that all on you.”

“But how did he get it in the first-?!” Sally started to exclaim, but before she could even finish her question, Zoe disappeared. Sally let out a loud groan as she threw her hands in the air.

“Somethings you just have to live with not knowing, I suppose,” Larry sighed.

* * *

Zoe landed with a bit of a stumble in what looked to the closet of a very old house judging by the way the floorboards would not stop groaning under her weight. She huffed as she saw she was in a closet once again but her anger quickly turned into fear as something flapped against her head.

She screamed and ran out of the closet but right as she turned to slam the door on whatever flapped against her head, she saw a pair of black wings and her heart dropped into her stomach.

She slammed the door hard on the bat and off in the distance heard the sounds of voices. Zoe followed the voices, trying not to sound incredibly creepy as she walked through the house but was unable t help it as the floorboards groaned horribly with her every step.

Eventually, she reached what appeared to be the lounge and the first person she saw was the twelfth Doctor beaming away at her.

Zoe sighed deeply and pointed back behind her with her thumb. “Did I just get attacked by a bat?” She gasped.   
  



	17. Killer Insects

“Who’s this?” One of the women gasped, waving towards Zoe.

Zoe analyzed the room and recognized one face that wasn’t the Doctors. Bill Potts, but where was Nardole? Then again, she wasn’t exactly complaining at his absence. The spotter’s guide on her wall had said that he hated her after all.

“That, er, that’s my-,” Bill stammered.

“Cousin,” Zoe smiled, marching forward and holding out her hand to the woman. “I was traveling with him,” she said, gesturing to the Doctor. “I started to wonder where he was so I let myself in. Hope that’s okay. My name’s Zoe Wilson.”

The woman looked to Bill with furrowed brows and Bill just shrugged awkwardly. 

“I-I’m Shireen,” the woman said awkwardly. “This is Felicity,” she said, gesturing to an adorable woman who waved. “Paul,” she said, nodding to a very tall man and he smirked and gave her a quick nod. “And Harry,” she said, waving to the last boy left in the room. “And Pavel’s in his room. If you hear any music from behind a locked door that’s him.”

Zoe snorted. “Good to know.” She turned to Doctor, her kind smile quickly morphing to one of panic. “When are we?” She gasped.

“2017,” the Doctor muttered. “Where are you from?”

“Weeping Angels,” Zoe cleared her throat, turning to wave kindly at the group. “Sally Sparrow.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened. “Right, that means introductions. Bill,” the Doctor murmured to Bill. “Zoe hasn’t met you yet.”

“Oh,” Bill breathed. “Hi,” she grinned. “Bill Potts.”

“Good to meet you” Zoe nodded and pointed to herself. “Zoe Wilson.”

“Anyway, I was just about to start making friends,” the Doctor beamed and Zoe’s eyes widened. This didn’t sound good. “Give me your phone,” he requested of Bill.

“But why?” Bill frowned. “There’s no reception.”

“Phone,” the Doctor insisted. 

Bill gave Zoe a look that many of the Doctor’s companions seemed to be giving her which she was beginning to learn was their silent way of expressing their frustration when the Doctor when he acted, overwhelmingly, like a thousand-year-old alien. She gave the Doctor her phone and immediately he put on music.

Someone she didn’t notice started singing but Zoe furrowed her brows because it sounded like something she would listen to. It hadn’t occurred to her that she might miss out on movies, shows, or music that normally she’d know because she’s traveling with the Doctor.

“I love this,” the Doctor beamed and one look at him told her he had no idea who it was.

“Do you know who this is?” Felicity gasped, eyes bright as she danced to the music.

“Do I know who this is?” the Doctor scoffed. “Yes, I know who this is.” Right after he claimed to know them, he spun around and Zoe snorted as she caught him furrowing his brows at the phone to try and figure out who was singing.

“Yeah, it’s Spotify so it’s probably random,” Bill shrugged. 

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Zoe chortled. “Like what you want, Bill.”

“Little Mix,” the Doctor read off the phone.

“You like Little Mix?” Paul implored with a small smile.

“Oh, clearly she does,” the Doctor hummed. “Look, there’s a whole playlist here.”

“Doctor,” Zoe snorted, shaking her head almost tiredly at the man. “Give Bill back her phone.”

“No!” Shireen exclaimed, snatching the phone from the Doctor. “I wanna see what else she’s got on it.”

Bill rolled her eyes and turned to the Doctor. “Can I have a word with you please?”

The Doctor nodded and started to follow her out but stopped when she saw Zoe sitting on the sofa rather than following them out. 

“Zoe, you might have to come to,” Bill hummed. “Run a bit of interference.”

Zoe furrowed her brows but nodded and headed out into the corridor to join the Doctor and Bill.

“Okay,” Bill sighed as soon as they were in the corridor and out of earshot of the rest of the group. “Honestly, Doctor, there's nothing going on. Nothing weird, nothing alien. Just an old house and a dodgy landlord, which is pretty standard for students. I'll see you later for more exciting Tardis action, but, basically, this is the bit of my life that you're not in. Do you know what I mean?”

Zoe’s eyes widened and she raised a brow, curious to see if he did understand what Bill meant.

“I know what you mean,” the Doctor mumbled and Zoe shrugged. 

“Thanks,” Bill smiled.

“So, up the wooden hill you go,” the Doctor said, gesturing to the wooden staircase.

Zoe snorted. “Since when do you call stairs wooden hills?”

“I was trying something out!” the Doctor exclaimed. “It’s a definite no, though, right?”

“No,” Zoe nodded.

The Doctor sighed softly. “Right then, sleep well.”

“Okay,” Bill said, clearly expecting more.

“Maybe before you do, you should check on your friend who hasn’t been seen for a day, and who has strange music coming out of his room,” the Doctor advised with a pointed look.

“And there it is,” Zoe hummed.

“They said he just does that,” Bill shrugged.

“Nobody just does anything,” the Doctor huffed.

Bill shot him a look. “You’re not leaving, are you?”

“No,” the Doctor said.

Bill turned to Zoe and threw her hands up in the air. “Zoe?!” She exclaimed, clearly searching for the girl to run some sort of interference.

Zoe sighed softly and turned to the Doctor. “Did you scan the place with the sonic?”

The Doctor clenched his jaw and nodded, not meeting Zoe’s eyes. “Yes,” he murmured.

“And?” Zoe implored, raising a brow.

“Nothing yet.”

“And what makes you think there is something?” Zoe asked.

The Doctor turned to her finally with a small frown. “Don’t you see it too?”

“I’m not asking you to work out whether or not I see something’s weird here, Doctor, I just got here. I don’t even know what would be weird,” Zoe shrugged. “I’m asking what you see that’s weird.”

“Well, there’s the odd noises in the wood for a start,” the Doctor said. “The trees creaked despite there being no wind and her friend has been missing for a day.”

Zoe took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Okay, how about this. Rather than slinking around the corridors and potentially waking them up, we keep at a distance and continue using the sonic on the house to figure out if anything is truly bad here. If it is then we won’t be too far to help but if it isn’t then you won’t even notice we’re here and I’ll make sure he’s gone by morning.”

Bill smiled softly and nodded as she let out a deep sigh. “That sounds fine,” she murmured. “Thank you.”

The Doctor didn’t seem completely in love with the idea but he seemed to see this was what Bill needed out of him so he nodded shortly. “If that’s what it takes,” he hummed.

Just then, Bill’s friends ran out of the room and Shireen laughed as she passed Bill’s phone back to her. “We need to have a talk about your taste in music!” She exclaimed.

Shireen and Paul both ran past the group towards the stairs.

“You coming up?” Paul asked, turning to Bill briefly with a small smirk.

“Yeah,” Bill sighed. She raised a brow at Zoe, silently asking if Zoe would be able to keep the Doctor back. Zoe snorted and nodded. 

Bill grinned at her and ran up the stairs after her friends. Just as they disappeared up the stairs there was an odd scratching sound that made both the Doctor and Zoe whip back around.

“What was that?” Zoe gasped.

“One of the strange noises,” the Doctor hummed. “Come on,” he said, waving for her to follow him.

* * *

The front door had shut. Now, it wasn’t just locked. It was sealed shut around every single edge. Even if they put the key in the door lock and pulled the door open it would remain shut.

The Doctor scanned it with his sonic trying to work out how it sealed itself while behind him, Felicity and Harry played more music blissfully unaware of what he was doing.

“Do you like this music, Doctor?” Felicity beamed.

“Reminds me of Quincy Jones,” the Doctor murmured. “I stepped in for him once. The bassist he'd hired turned out to be a Klarj Neon Death Voc-Bot,” he told Zoe with a brief nod. “What was worse, he couldn't play. This is very interesting,” he said, gesturing to the door that had turned into a wall.

“The door?” Harry scoffed, furrowing his brows at them.

“Because it isn’t,” the Doctor said.

“Isn’t?” Harry implored.

“It’s not a door anymore,” Zoe told him. “Try to open it.”

Harry smirked, rolling his eyes and likely thinking they were ridiculous as he marched forward and tried to turn the knob. It rattled but didn’t budge.

“Come on,” Felicity huffed, shoving past Harry to try and open the door. “Shireen did it a minute ago.” She tried to open the door and was only met with the same result. She sighed softly but looked at the Doctor and Zoe and shrugged. “So, it’s locked.”

“No,” Zoe shook her head, gesturing where all the cracks on a door would normally be. “Look at it.”

“It’s completely sealed,” the Doctor hummed.

“I-I don’t understand,” Felicity stammered.

Before Zoe or the Doctor could even try to explain, there was the sound of loud slamming from within the lounge. They all ran towards it to find all of the shutters were sealed shut just like the door.

“The shutters,” Felicity gasped. 

“What about them?” Harry frowned.

“They were open the last time we were in here,” Zoe murmured, staring at the shutter with wide eyes.

“Closed by themselves,” the Doctor nodded, pulling out his sonic and scanning the shutters. “Sealed.”

“So, we’re trapped?!” Felicity exclaimed with wide eyes.

“Maybe, that’s the idea,” the Doctor breathed, turning to the group and furrowing his brows as he thought.

Zoe winced. She had been in several situations with the Doctor so far when her back was up against the wall with seemingly no way out and a small part of her had started to get used to it, but she still didn’t enjoy the Doctor so casually telling them that they were trapped and insinuating whatever they were up against already had the upper hand.

“Doctor, not helping,” Zoe moaned as, by her side, Felicity began to tremble.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked, but before the Doctor could answer him that noise they’d heard just a few minutes earlier started up again.

It was like nails scratching on the wood, or it sort of reminded Zoe of a cat sharpening its claws. The wood began to creak loudly accompanying the noise and some dust felt from the ceiling.

“No. No, no, no!” Felicity cried, her whole body shaking.

“Are you-?” Zoe began, starting to reach for her.

“There’s something in here!” Felicity sobbed and bolted out of the room before any of them could stop her. “I can’t be trapped! I can’t!”

“Wait!” the Doctor yelled.

“Don’t run!” Zoe shouted.

If the Doctor had truly heard the trees creaking with no wind, that meant the entire area surrounding the house was a threat as well not just something within the house.

They all began running after her and followed her into the kitchen where one of the doors leading out of the house slammed shut and likely sealed itself in the process.

She let out a sob and just as the shutters around the kitchen windows were closing she began to climb out, fighting with the shutters not to close around her as she did so.

“Don’t go out there!” the Doctor bellowed, running to try and stop her.

“I can’t be trapped!” Felicity screamed. She managed to get behind the shutters and escape just as the Doctor and Zoe reached the shutters and began slamming on them and trying to pry them open.

They sealed before either of them could reach her.

“Great,” Harry huffed, throwing his hands up in the air. “Now we’re stuck here. Why’d you try and stop her?!”

“Outside we can’t keep her safe,” Zoe sighed, backing away from the shutters. “Inside we can all work together to figure out what’s going on and try to keep each other safe.”

“Listen,” the Doctor hissed.

Harry furrowed his brows and pressed his ear to the shutters right beside the Doctor while the wood in the house groaned noisily. There was a brief pause and then a high pitched scream from somewhere out in the yard. Immediately, they all tried to peel open the shutters once again but it didn’t work. They were stuck in there unable to help Felicity.

“What’s happened to her?” Harry gasped, looking to the Doctor and Zoe with wide eyes. “What’s going on? Do you think it’s like she said? A thing?”

The Doctor furrowed his brows in thought. “Maybe,” he murmured.

“And so is it out there now?” Harry wondered. “Or in here?”

“Or both” the Doctor hummed.

Zoe rolled his eyes. Once again when he spoke it was something she already anticipated but it did nothing to reassure Harry and in fact, looking at him, Zoe worried it might just have scared him even more.

“Doctor,” Zoe moaned.

“I’m scared,” Harry breathed hugging himself as though he were the only one who could offer himself reassurance. Zoe knew the feeling.

“Don’t be,” the Doctor snapped.

“Why not?” Harry frowned.

“It doesn’t help,” the Doctor huffed.

“Actually, it does,” Zoe muttered, shooting a quick glare at the Doctor as she moved to stand in front of Harry. “When you’re scared you’re overly alert. You notice every little detail and you’re ready to bolt faster than lightning. You’re invaluable when I’m scared.”

“Really?” Harry frowned.

“I’m always scared traveling with him,” Zoe shrugged, gesturing back at the Doctor. “After all, you can only really be brave when you’re scared.”

Harry smiled softly at her and nodded. “Thanks,” he murmured.

“Don’t mention it,” Zoe nodded.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was basically ignoring them as he knocked on the wood of the cutters curiously. “Who’s there?” 

“Doctor, is it something in the wood then?” Zoe wondered furrowing her brows. “I thought it might be some creature controlling the wood.”

“No, no,” the Doctor shook his head, backing away from the shutters and knocking on the wood of the cabinets. “What if something's got into the wood? Into the lathes, behind the plaster, into the very fabric of the house? Wood nymphs, tree spirits, dryads,” he listed and Zoe frowned.

“Is that even possible?” Zoe asked.

“Anything's possible,” the Doctor hummed, smirking as he pushed on the cabinet door and made it creak nonstop.

“Doctor, what are you doing?” Harry scoffed. “We need to get out and call the police!”

“Oh, the police will be no help to us,” Zoe snorted, moving closer to the Doctor and smiling as he continued to push on the door.

“Who’s there?” the Doctor smiled as the creaking of the wood he was pressing on started to grow louder.

“Doctor, you’re provoking it,” Harry murmured, staring at the cabinet with wide eyes. “It’s getting louder.”

That only gave the Doctor more reason to continue pressing on the wood and try and get a reaction.

“Wake up!” the Doctor snapped. “Wake up! Out you come!”

The wood started to part and a little bug that looked sort of like a beetle but strangely colored with what looked like lights on its antennae popped out. Immediately, Zoe slid backward and cringed. She hated bugs no matter if they were tiny little alien bugs.

The bug began to dart across the countertops and Zoe jumped away making the Doctor chuckle lightly at her.

“She can save the world day and night but a little bug scares her,” the Doctor hummed.

“Leave me alone!” Zoe groaned. “They make me squeamish!” She cried, jumping up onto the island in the center of the kitchen to avoid the bug as it started to crawl down to the floor.

The Doctor laughed and shook his head at her as he scurried after the bug. “I was expecting something quite different, you know, like a gaseous creature, or microscopic!” He exclaimed, beaming at the bug. “Did you see it move through the wood?” He asked, raising excited brows at Zoe.

Zoe gulped and shook her head, itching at her arms as she watched the Doctor chase after the creature. “I’d rather not remember it,” she murmured.

“Interacting at a cellular level,” the Doctor hummed, still grinning at the bug. “This must be alien! Got to be alien! What are you doing here? On your holidays? Zoe, get a matchbox.”

“Let’s go for no?” Zoe offered, glaring at him.

“Alright, a shoebox then,” the Doctor huffed and Zoe wasn’t sure if she should laugh or scream. “Don’t let it get away!”

“What does he mean, alien?” Harry frowned, raising a brow at Zoe.

“Oh, he’s alien, the bug is alien, I’m sort of half alien?” Zoe shrugged. “Can I say that? Half alien?”

“Oh, little one!” the Doctor corrected, pinching his fingers to demonstrate the small amount of alien in her.

“Alright, I’m a little alien,” Zoe sighed.

“Oh, it can move fast,” the Doctor gasped. “Where’s that matchbox?!”

“Never coming!” Zoe snapped, curling in on herself as the bug got close to her. She could feel her body hardening desperate to keep itself away from the bug.

The wood creaking grew louder and Harry furrowed his brows, turning to where the wood creaking was coming from. Suddenly, he froze and waved his hand to grab the Doctor and Zoe’s attention.

“Doctor,” Harry breathed.

Zoe furrowed her brows and followed his gaze until she felt her heart stop as she saw the hundreds of insects crawling in from the door and flooding the walls and floors. 

“Doctor!” Zoe screamed at the top of her lungs, her heart beating out of her chest. 

“What?” the Doctor frowned, turning around and his eyes widened when he spotted the hundreds of insects. “Ah,” he breathed. “Now, this starts to make sense. Yes. Dryads indeed. We need to get out.”

Harry turned and tried to open the door leading outside but simply threw his hands up in the air, likely knowing that would be the result. “We can’t!” He exclaimed.

The Doctor flung open the pantry door and marched inside. “In here!” He shouted.

Zoe grit her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut before she bolted across the floor into the pantry, not stopping to think about what she was doing as she did it. She reached the pantry and gasped for air, at the quick but terrifying sprint.

Meanwhile, Harry stood outside the cupboard furrowing his brows at it. “What’s the point of hiding in a cupboard?!”

The Doctor pulled Harry inside and then slammed metal bars that looked like they should be on a lift rather than in a pantry. “It’s not a cupboard,” was all the Doctor said as he shifted some coats and pushed a lever from ‘up’ to ‘down’.

The pantry-lift shuddered to life and took them all the way down to a dirty, sort of smelly basement with brick walls.

The Doctor opened the lift back up and pulled a sonic Zoe had never seen but found she liked much more than the others, out of his coat. He used it as a torch for them as they crept into the basement.

“What are they?” Harry gasped. “They look like insects but they can shut doors and trap us?” He frowned.

“So, worse than insects,” Zoe murmured, shrugged at him. “But if they’re just in the wood aren’t we safe down here?”

“They're not just in the wood, they're becoming the wood itself. Total infestation. Infestation of the Dryads!” the Doctor exclaimed delightedly and Zoe snorted and rolled her eyes at him. Those things made her skin crawl but she always loved watching the Doctor ecstatic over a new discovery.

“You’re talking like you’ve seen these things before,” Harry frowned.

“No, see the excitement means he hasn’t seen them before,” Zoe chuckled.

“But he said they were alien,” Harry murmured, clearly confused by how the Doctor worked. It was only then that Zoe realized she must have been one of the few who understood the Doctor and the way he went about things pretty quickly.

“Well, they could be native to this planet, but I've never seen them before,” the Doctor shrugged. “Have you?” He asked, raising a brow and turning to Zoe.

Zoe snorted. “You think I would’ve had  _ that  _ reaction if I’d seen them before?”

“Entomophobia,” the Doctor hummed. “An extreme fear of insects. You would have had that reaction no matter how many times you’d seen them.”

“Well, I haven’t,” Zoe sighed. “Seen the Dryads before, that is.”

“That’s what they’re called?” Harry assumed with a raised brow. “Dryads?”

“Well, that’s what we’re calling them, yes,” the Doctor huffed.

“You’ve both gone crazy,” Harry gasped, looking between both of them with wide eyes.

“I think the name Dryads is cute!” Zoe insisted.

“We can’t just call them lice, can we?” the Doctor raised his brows and Zoe nodded firmly with him in agreement while Harry just rolled his eyes at the pair of them.

* * *

The three of them crept through the corridors of the basement until they reached a small room with half a dozen small wooden boxes and belongings filling up each of those boxes. Zoe got an awful turning feeling in her stomach at the sight like she had just walked onto the set of a horror movie.

“Maybe, it belonged to a family that used to live here?” Harry suggested with a shrug, his voice slightly higher pitched than it had been telling Zoe he felt the same discomfort she was feeling.

“Harry, there’s six boxes,” the Doctor murmured.

They began looking through the boxes hoping that it might be able to provide some clues about the people they belonged to.

“Tenancy agreement,” Harry frowned, pulling up a sheet of paper from one of the boxes. “Same as ours.”

Zoe found a set of Polaroids in one of the boxes and began peering through them with wide eyes.

“Six signatures,” Harry murmured. 

“Doctor, look at this,” Zoe breathed, passing him the Polaroids.

“Jake Christie, Annie Wren, Jonathan Frost,” Harry mumbled as he read the signatures.

The Doctor sucked in a sharp breath as he looked through the Polaroids. “What’s the date?” He asked Harry.

“Er, 1997,” Harry said, peering at the top of the tenancy agreement. “Sarah Tiller, Mark Hopethorne, Carl Richards.”

“They move in, relax, go to their rooms,” the Doctor muttered as he flicked through the Polaroids. “Then panic. Infestation,” he said as he held up a picture the people had taken of the insects.

Harry’s eyes grew wide but slowly he furrowed his brows as he spotted something behind the Doctor and Zoe.

“Doctor,” he gasped and they all turned to find several more boxes in an alcove.

Right as the Doctor and Harry picked through the tenancy agreements, Zoe felt her arm begin to burn. She let out a soft curse. She was really interested in this one. Once she got to the thirteenth Doctor she needed to ask how it ended.

“Doctor,” Zoe murmured, rushing up to his side.

He turned to her with furrowed brows and all she needed to do was point at her vortex manipulator for him to understand.

The Doctor picked up her right hand and kissed it sweetly making her tummy flutter as he met her eyes. “Go somewhere you won’t be seen,” he instructed in a whisper so Harry wouldn’t hear.

Zoe nodded and headed out of the room as the blue light began to flicker rapidly. She headed into a small alcove completely darkened from view and prayed there were no insects in there as the vortex manipulator tore her away once again.


	18. The Arrival of the Gelth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am halfway through this story, how insane is that?!

Zoe landed stumbling into the doorway before crying out in pain and rubbing her forehead. “Really?” She exclaimed.

She turned and her eyes widened when she spotted the ninth Doctor beside a bearded man in nineteenth-century clothes.

“Ah, right as we were talking about the impossible,” the Doctor chortled.

Zoe grinned and waved awkwardly. “Hi,” she mumbled at the bearded man.

“Zoe, this is Charles Dickens,” the Doctor introduced with a wave. “Charles, my friend that can appear from nowhere is called Zoe.”

Zoe sighed softly as she headed over to them and held out her hand for Charles Dickens. “Charles Dickens, eh? Alright,” she hummed and tentatively, Charles shook her hand.

“My dear, I must ask how on Earth you just did that?” Charles gasped. “Was it with mirrors?”

Zoe winced and looked to the Doctor as he seemed to be fighting back chuckles.

“Erm, not exactly,” Zoe murmured. “It’s a bit more complicated than that.”

Charles Dickens huffed and turned to what Zoe only just realized was a dead body laying out in front of them and her eyes widened.

“Where are we?” She muttered softly to the Doctor.

“Funeral home in Cardiff,” the Doctor answered in a whisper. “1869.”

“Ah, how wonderfully ordinary,” Zoe hummed.

“Your friend here was just telling me that there might be more to learn in the world because I cannot find fault in the gaseous creatures,” Charles muttered.

“Gaseous creatures?” Zoe murmured to the Doctor, her brows furrowed but her eyes still on Charles. 

“I’ll explain later,” the Doctor sighed.

“I've always railed against the fantasists. Oh, I loved an illusion as much as the next man,  _ reveled  _ in them, but that's exactly what they were illusions!” Charles exclaimed. “The real world is something else. I dedicated myself to that. Injustices, great social causes. I hoped that I was a force for good. Now you tell me that the real world is a realm of specters and jack-o'-lanterns. In which case, have I wasted my brief span here, Doctor? Has it all been for nothing?” Charles asked, looking between the Doctor and Zoe helplessly.

“Not for nothing,” Zoe insisted. “You haven’t wasted your time here at all,” she assured him. “The way I see it, the world has two sides to it, like a coin. There’s the world of politics and great social causes just as you said and there’s the world of specters and everything you thought impossible. Sometimes the worlds wind up colliding but one doesn’t negate the presence of the other.”

“But can I say I’ve truly made an impact if I haven’t touched both worlds?” Charles frowned.

Zoe snorted. “Yes. Yes, you can.”

Charles furrowed his brows at her, obviously not very happy with that answer. “I think I may need to sit for a while and try to wrap my head around all of this.”

“Take all the time you need,” the Doctor nodded.

Charles simply nodded back to him and headed out of the room. Zoe waited until he was out of earshot before she turned to the Doctor with her hands on her hips. 

“Gas creatures?”

“Yeah, apparently gas creatures have been taking over dead bodies for their own purposes,” the Doctor hummed. “Also it’s Christmas!” He exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air with a bright smile.

Zoe’s eyes widened. “That means-.”

“It’s your birthday,” the Doctor nodded. “You told me last trip. I have a present for you in the Tardis.”

Zoe’s heart skipped a beat and she beamed at the Doctor, looping her arm through his. “We have to deal with the gas creatures before I get my present, don’t we?”

The Doctor snorted and nodded. “Yep.”

Zoe took a deep breath and looked out to the corridor. “Where’s Rose? I wanna say hi to her before we get started.”

“I think she should be with the maid, Gwyneth,” the Doctor hummed. “Ask Mister Sneed if you can’t find her. He’s the only other bloke here, I believe.”

“Brilliant!” Zoe exclaimed, much happier with this trip than the insects.

She skipped out of the room as the Doctor smiled after her and scoured the house for a woman in a maid outfit or a man she could ask for directions.

Luckily, before she had to ask anyone to help her, she heard voices from within a pantry to her left.

“And you, you've flown so far,” a voice she didn’t recognize but guessed was likely Gwyneth hummed. “Further than anyone. The things you've seen. The darkness, the big bad wolf. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, miss.”

“Did someone say bad wolf?” Zoe smirked, leaning on the doorway to the pantry.

“Zoe!” Rose exclaimed and Zoe laughed as Rose ran up and hugged her tightly.

Zoe sighed into her arms and a big piece of her could understand why her future self felt so close to Rose. There was a sort of comfort she felt when being back with the girl who had guided her through her first trip and tried to explain as much as possible to help her as best she could. She felt at ease with her, like she didn’t have to try so hard to act and seem like her knowledgable future self because Rose didn’t expect her to always be like that.

Rose beamed at her and pulled away slightly just so she could turn Zoe to face Gwyneth. “This is Gwyneth,” she said.

The girl with curly black hair in a maid’s uniform waved shyly.

“She was telling me all these things she’d seen in my head,” Rose frowned and Zoe’s eyes widened while Gwyneth hung her head.

“I can't help it,” Gwyneth shrugged. “Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said I had the sight. She told me to hide it,” she murmured.

“But it’s getting stronger, more powerful, is that right?” the Doctor assumed and the three of them jumped to see him standing in the doorway.

“All the time, sir,” Gwyneth nodded. “Every night voices in my head,” she murmured, squeezing her eyes shut and pressing her palm against her temple.

Zoe immediately went from being confused and surprised by this woman to feeling her heart break for her. She knew what it was to have nightmares and she was certain anyone alive could remember when they had a truly awful nightmare that affected their whole day. She couldn’t begin to imagine having voices in your head that kept you as sleepless and haunted as a nightmare every single night.

“You grew up on top of the rift,” the Doctor informed her. “You’re part of it. You’re the key.”

“I've tried to make sense of it, sir,” Gwyneth insisted. “Consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts,” she shrugged.

“Well, that should help,” the Doctor nodded and Zoe furrowed her brows at him. “You can show us what to do.”

“What to do where, sir?” Gwyneth frowned.

Zoe smirked at him. “You have a plan, don’t you.”

The Doctor nodded once again, grinning at her. “We’re gonna have a séance.”

* * *

Gwyneth worked to arrange them all around a table where she was holding hands with Mister Sneed (who turned out was a massive pig that Rose said had felt her up while she was unconscious), Mister Sneed was holding hands with Charles Dickens (who Zoe could not believe agreed to take part in this), Charles held hands with Rose who held hands with Zoe, and she held hands with the Doctor and the Doctor beamed as he held hands with Gwyneth.

The lights were dimmed down low and Gwyneth smiled softly at all of them before taking a deep breath.

“This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in Bute Town,” Gwyneth explained with a smile.

Immediately, Charles leaped up from his seat. That didn’t last long.

“I can’t take part in this!” Charles exclaimed.

“Humbug?” the Doctor implored with a raised brow and Zoe snorted while Rose giggled into her shoulder. “Come on, open mind.”

“This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask!” Charles snapped. “Séances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeezebox concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing.”

“A squeezebox?” Zoe frowned.

“Now don’t antagonize her,” the Doctor huffed. “I love a happy medium,” he beamed and both Zoe and Rose burst out laughing.

“I can’t believe you just said that,” Rose giggled.

“Me neither,” Zoe snorted.

The Doctor beamed at them and nodded Charles back into his seat. “Come on,” he insisted. “We might need you.” Hesitantly, Charles sat back in his seat. “Good man. Now, Gwyneth, reach out.”

Gwyneth looked up to the ceiling. “Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden.”

Gwyneth tilted her head back and strange whispers began to fall across the room, some sounded like soft shouts while others shouted like countless people muttering to each other.

“Can you hear that?” Rose asked with wide eyes.

“That whispering?” Zoe assumed, furrowing her brows. “Yeah.”

Charles rolled his eyes at the pair of them. “Nothing can happen!” He snapped. “This is sheer folly.”

“Look at her,” Rose breathed, nodding towards Gwyneth.

They all turned to see her body trembling and her eyes wide as her head remained hung back looking at  _ something _ .

“I see them,” Gwyneth gasped. “I feel them.”

As she spoke, blue gas tendrils seemed to slowly appear from out of nowhere and swirl around them and their table, all seeming to culminate around Gwyneth. They were muttering something but neither Zoe nor Rose could make out just what they were saying.

“What’s it saying?” Rose asked, right before Zoe could.

“They can’t get through the rift,” the Doctor murmured. “Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now, look deep. Allow them through.”

“I can’t!” Gwyneth cried.

“Yes, you can,” the Doctor assured her with a nod. “Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link.”

“You can do it, Gwyneth,” Zoe insisted. “We believe in you.”

Gwyneth squeezed her eyes shut and gasped softly before she leaned her head forward and her eyes flicked open. “Yes,” she murmured.

Suddenly, blue outlines of figures that looked similar to humans but oddly blurred in the gaseous state they were confined to appeared behind Gwyneth.

Charles Dickens looked at them like his heart just stopped beating right then and there.

“Great God!” Mister sneed cried. “Spirits from the other side!”

“The other side of the universe,” the Doctor smirked.

“Pity us,” the figures spoke in children’s voices and in Gwyneth’s voice. “Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us.”

“What do you want us to do?” the Doctor asked.

“The rift,” the Gelth said. “Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge.”

“What for?” the Doctor wondered.

“We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction.”

“Why, what happened?”

“Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came.”

“War?” Charles scoffed. “What war?”

“The Time War,” the Gelth answered and Zoe watched the Doctor’s face harden. She had a funny feeling he had something to do with that war. She’d been trying to put together the pieces of who he was, hoping to never intrude and ask something that might be too personal but she had learned enough to know he was one of the last of his kind and home was certainly not an option for him. “The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state.”

“So that’s why you need the corpses,” the Doctor concluded with a nod.

“We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again,” the Gelth agreed. “We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste. Give them to us.”

“But we can’t!” Rose exclaimed, and Zoe found herself agreeing with the girl.

“Why not?” the Doctor asked and Zoe wanted to scoff at him. The very idea made her sick to her stomach.

“It’s not,” Rose frowned. “I mean, it’s not.”

“If she won’t say it, I will,” Zoe insisted. “It’s bloody horrific!”

“It could save their lives, Zoe!” the Doctor snapped and Zoe clenched her jaw, glaring at him.

She wasn’t going to take part in this. There could be so many other ways to save the Gelth if they took the chance to look for them. She was not going to go to the future and find her mother was taken over by the Gelth. She refused. 

“Open the rift. Let the Gelth through,” the Gelth pleaded. “We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth.”

With that, the Gelth disappeared and Gwyneth was dropped face-first onto the table. Immediately, Zoe and Rose rushed over to make sure she was okay.

“Oh, my God, Gwyneth!” Rose exclaimed, pulling her off the table.

Zoe felt her forehead and almost shivered at how ice cold it was. “Gwyneth, can you hear us?” Zoe implored, pressing her hand to the woman’s face softly to try and give Gwyneth some of her warmth.

“All true,” Charles gasped from where he sat in his seat. “It’s all true.”

“We should get her somewhere where she can rest,” Zoe murmured to Rose and Rose nodded.

The pair of them picked Gwyneth up carefully and brought her over to a chaise longue where Rose dipped a handkerchief from a nearby table into a bowl of warm water to dab across her face.

Meanwhile, Zoe grabbed the Doctor and pulled him outside.

“You haven’t known me long, have you?” Zoe assumed. He wouldn’t be so heartless about what the Gelth taking over dead bodies meant for her if he had.

The Doctor clenched his jaw. “I met you just before I met Rose, two trips ago.”

Zoe sighed softly and hung her head. That wasn’t long at all. “Alright, well I suppose now is as good a time as any to tell you my mum died when I was thirteen. Cancer. It was-It was one of the most awful things I’ve ever seen. I’d never been in hospitals before, you see. Aside from when I was born, of course, I’d never really been inside a hospital all this time. Then all of a sudden my mum got sick and it was all orange bottles and trying to find the nicer nurses and chemo. It terrified me so I tried to act like most thirteen-year-olds and start spending all my time with friends even as she asked to seem me, I just-I was too weak to see her.”

“That’s not weakness,” the Doctor insisted. “That was just you being afraid which is perfectly understandable for a child.”

“Except it shouldn’t have been,” Zoe huffed, tears beginning to form in her eyes as she hugged her arms around herself. “When I finally got the strength to see her it wasn’t long before she died, and it absolutely broke me. I didn’t know who I was supposed to be and I was petrified of doing this without my mum to guide me through. In hindsight, my fear might have lead me to become a little too much like my father,” she murmured. “I felt helpless watching her go like that. I hated seeing that it was impossible to save her no matter how hard anyone tried.”

“I’m sorry,” the Doctor frowned.

Zoe looked up at him, a few tears slipping out as she took a deep breath. “That’s why I’m telling you this now, Doctor. Find another way to save the Gelth. Any other way. But if we stop in modern-day England and I have to see my mother’s face with an entirely different being wearing it, I will  _ never  _ forgive you,” she insisted, her teary eyes hardening. “You do this and I am  _ done _ . That’s it,” she shrugged. “I’ll stay in the Tardis for every journey here on out if I have to since I can’t get this bloody thing off me,” she huffed, pointing at the vortex manipulator.

The Doctor looked down at her and Zoe didn’t know if she should scream or cry for she had never seen the Doctor look at her so cruelly.

“Then I suppose that’s what you’ll have to do,” the Doctor said. “Because we don’t have enough time to come up with another solution.”

Zoe clenched her jaw. “I’ve been keeping back, trying not to ask out of sheer decency but this is about the Time War, isn’t it? They said they were suffering because of the Time War and you felt the need to step in and act like a hero like always!” She snapped.

“Their race is dying, Zoe!” the Doctor barked. “If I don’t save them, what sort of person does that make me. Humans allow corpses to rot in the ground with no purpose and all the Gelth are seeking to do is fill those bodies!”

“You can’t just bring someone’s dead relatives back after someone has mourned them after someone has accepted their loss and moved on with their life! Sure, there may be some people able to accept that but I know I’m now the only one that can’t,” she huffed. 

“I’m not bringing the dead relatives back,” the Doctor insisted.

“No, you’re just asking another species to wear their faces so people have to live through the pain of seeing their dead relatives pass them in the street and not even acknowledge them,” Zoe hissed. “And besides, are you even thinking of what might happen to Gwyneth if she does this?!”

“She was able to open the rift and make the bridge not five minutes ago,” the Doctor snapped.

“Yes, when it was like three of the Gelth!” Zoe exclaimed. “We don’t know how many people they have left. The last of their species might be the last one hundred or two hundred and who knows if Gwyneth can handle that!”

“She needs to do this so they can survive,” the Doctor insisted. 

Zoe clenched her jaw, glaring at him more venomously then she believed she ever had since she first started traveling with the Doctor. She let out a deep sigh and wagged her finger at him. “You’re an idiot,” she declared before she turned and marched toward the blue box she saw waiting for her in the distance.

* * *

Zoe reached the Tardis and opened it up, slamming the door behind her. The Tardis lit up beautifully upon her arrival, but Zoe hardly noticed as she leaned back against the doors, put her hands over her face, and cried. She sunk down until she was sitting in front of the door and sobbed until her body couldn’t bear it anymore.

This was the first time she ever truly disagreed with the Doctor and she hated herself for it. She honestly couldn’t tell if she was in the right or not and that’s what killed her most of all. She just knew she couldn’t bear the thought of the Gelth taking over her mum. She couldn’t. If that put her in the wrong then she supposed she’d just have to live with that.

It really put a knife in her heart seeing the way the Doctor didn’t even sound like he wanted to try to understand her point of view. He was so deadset on saving the Gelth because they were victims of the Time War it seemed like he tuned out everything else.

Eventually, Zoe pulled herself to her feet, wiping her eyes as she trudged up to the console.

“Hey, girl,” Zoe murmured. “Just you and me then.”

The Tardis beeped at her and it almost sounded like a whine.

“The Doctor and I had a fight,” Zoe sighed. “He’s about to try to save a species and I don’t wholly agree with the way he’s doing it.” She scoffed and shook her head. “Gods, does that make me sound like an awful person?”

The Tardis beeped twice somewhat chirpy and Zoe decided to take that as a no.

“I suppose he can’t always be the brilliant, heroic alien who saves your life all the time,” Zoe hummed, walking her fingers across one of the levers on the console. “Sometimes, he’s going to do something I don’t always agree with.”

The Tardis whirred at her and Zoe snorted.

“You could definitely say the outer space playboy bit is a big part of it,” Zoe hummed. “I mean does he always travel with girls?”

The Tardis flicked on the small screen on the console and it began flicking through the Doctor’s male companions. The list was fairly short.

“So, I feel like that would be a yes,” Zoe chuckled. “I mean it’s kind of frustrating, but I feel like it gets better when he’s a woman,” she muttered. “Oh, yeah,” she smirked as the Tardis beeped at her words. “ _ Spoilers _ .”

The Tardis let out a string of confused beeps and Zoe giggled. “Granted she still travels with at least one woman. After all, this is the Doctor we’re talking about. He’s in a codependent relationship with a screwdriver. I mean, if he had to pick between an enormous complicated machine he could fix with a toolkit and a girl, who would he go with?”

The Tardis beeped at her, lighting up a few buttons.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Zoe sighed, resting her head on her hand. “Both of them. With the same toolkit. So, what do we do?” She implored with a raised brow.

When the Tardis remained silent, she chuckled. 

“Yeah, I haven’t got any ideas either,” she murmured. “Guess, we’ll just have to live with it,” she shrugged. She leaned back from the Tardis console and glanced around at the console room. “I guess I’ve got some time to get food and maybe I can look around 1869 before the Doctor riddles it with dead people.”

So, that was what she did. She made herself a nice sandwich and paced around the Tardis corridors a bit while she ate before she headed back to the Tardis kitchen to dump out her food. She was lucky the kitchen seemed to be right by the control room, though she didn’t know for certain whether or not the Tardis had fashioned it that way. 

She headed back to the console room and the Tardis whirred happily when it saw her.

Zoe giggled. “You know, I don’t even know if this can really be considered my birthday seeing as it’s quite a while before I was actually born, but if anything, you made it brilliant,” she said, patting the Tardis which beeped cheerfully at her. “Being able to come back and talk to you and laugh after that argument kept this day from being totally awful, so thank you.”

The Tardis beeping once again happily and Zoe beamed as she headed outside, making sure to close the door tight behind her.

As soon as she stepped outside into the snow, Charles Dickens bolted past her, and Zoe’s eyes widened as she saw one of the Gelth try to follow him only to start screaming beside a gasp streetlamp.

“Failing! Atmosphere hostile!” the Gelth shouted before it disappeared into the street lamp.

“Gas!” Charles exclaimed. “The gas!”

“Wait, Charles, what’s going on?!” Zoe cried, grabbing his arm and stopping him in his tracks.

“I’m not sure I quite understand it but there were far more of those spirits than any of us expected,” Charles hummed. “And their intentions were not as innocent as they claimed. They seek to kill and create their own corpses to inhabit.”

Zoe’s heart stopped. “Oh, my Gods, the Doctor and Rose are in there,” she breathed.

“The gas stopped that one,” Charles told her, pointing towards the streetlamp. “It might be able to stop the rest.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Zoe nodded. “Maybe, we can find a way to close the rift too. Stop them from coming through.”

The pair of them bolted back to Mister Sneed’s house as fast as they could and burst through the door. Every gas lamp they saw they turned off then turned on the gas as high as it would go. Charles tossed her a handkerchief as he placed one over his own mouth.

“Don’t inhale the gas, my dear,” Charles instructed.

“Thanks,” Zoe smiled as she turned the gas all the way up on one of the lamps. “I didn’t even think of that,” she muttered, coughing lightly as she moved to the next lamp.

They turned up the gas on every single gas lamp they could find before Charles lead her down to the basement telling her that the Doctor and Rose were hopefully still down there with the dead bodies the Gelth had possessed.

She ran downstairs with Charles, immediately racing to turn up the gas on the lamps in the basement.

The Doctor and Rose were behind a metal gate as all the dead bodies the Gelth had possessed reached for them likely trying to kill them and take over their bodies.

“Doctor! Doctor!” Charles cried as he ran to one of the lamps.

“It’s not over yet!” Zoe exclaimed, but her eyes widened when she spotted Gwyneth standing under an archway with one of the figures they had seen in the séance except rather than its’ blue form it looked like it was made of flames standing over her. “What the hell?!”

“Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now, fill the room, all of it, now!” Charles yelled, not even bothering to explain the Gwyneth doused in flames.

“Zoe,” the Doctor gasped. “You came back.”

“I wasn’t just gonna let you two die now was I?” Zoe smirked. “This doesn’t mean I forgive you.”

“Oh, I don’t blame you,” the Doctor laughed. “I was a right idiot.”

“But I don’t understand,” Rose frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Flooding the room with gas,” Zoe responded.

“What, so we’ll choke to death instead?!” Rose exclaimed, furrowing her brows at the girl.

“Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host,” the Doctor explained. “Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!”

As soon as he said this the Gelth seemed to realize that Zoe and Charles were in fact trying to destroy their plans. They turned away from the Doctor and Rose and towards them, moving like zombies.

“I hope, oh Lord, I hope that this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately,” Charles gasped. 

Zoe glared at the Gelth and a big piece of her was glad she fought so hard trying to stop them from taking over corpses. She imagined if any of the family members of friends of the Gelth walking towards her saw this they’d be sick to their stomach. 

“Plenty more!” the Doctor yelled before he pulled out a pipe in the wall behind him and flooded the room with gas.

Immediately, the Gelth began screaming and their blue forms were sucked out of the bodies, diving straight back to the flames surrounding Gwyneth.

“It’s working!” Charles exclaimed.

The Doctor and Rose removed the bars keeping them safe and raced out towards Gwyneth.

“Gwyneth you have to seal the rift!” Zoe cried.

“Send them back, Gwyneth,” the Doctor nodded. “They lied. They’re not angels.”

“Liars?” Gwyneth gasped.

“Look at me. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!” the Doctor barked.

“Gently!” Zoe snapped, glaring at him.

Rose began to cough far more than the Doctor or Zoe were coughing. “I can’t breathe.”

“Zoe, get her out,” the Doctor instructed.

“You think I’m listening to you right now?” Zoe scoffed. “Charles, you can bring Rose out.”

“I’m not leaving her!” Rose cried, but Zoe held her back just as Rose was about to dive into the flames surrounding Gwyneth.

“They’re too strong,” Gwyneth whimpered and Zoe’s heart cracked.

“Remember that world you saw? That’s Zoe and Rose's world. All those people,” the Doctor hummed. “None of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift.”

“I can't send them back,” Gwyneth insisted. “But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out.” She reached into her apron and pulled out a small box of matches.

Zoe’s eyes widened and her heart stopped while Rose made another attempt to diver at Gwyneth.

“You can’t!” Rose screamed.

Zoe held Rose back but only just, fighting the urge to dive after Gwyneth herself. 

“Gwyneth, please don’t do this,” Zoe begged.

“Leave this place!” Gwyneth shouted at them.

Zoe took a deep breath and glanced down at the floor before she turned and grabbed Rose’s shoulders. “Rose, get out. I’ll make sure she’s safe, but I don’t want you to choke on this. Leave with Charles and we’ll be out after you, I promise.”

Rose looked helplessly between her, the Doctor, and Gwyneth but when she started to cough once again she seemed to realize that she couldn’t stand to be in the house while it was flooded with gas any longer.

She sighed softly and nodded, coughing as she ran out with Charles.

“You should go with her,” the Doctor murmured.

Zoe clenched her jaw and shook her head. “If you can stand to be in all the gas longer than an ordinary human than I can stand to be in the gas just slightly longer,” Zoe reminded him. “Because I don’t trust you anymore.”

The Doctor glanced down at her and her heart wanted to break because all she could see was such sadness, but she didn’t want everything to be okay again that easily. She didn’t think she could bear it.

The Doctor sighed and turned to Gwyneth, holding out his hand for the matches.

“Both of you leave, give that to me,” the Doctor instructed.

“Doctor?!” Zoe exclaimed.

The Doctor didn’t respond, but he furrowed his brows when Gwyneth stared blankly at them. He felt for a pulse in her neck and Zoe’s heart dropped into her stomach.

“I’m sorry,” the Doctor breathed, kissing Gwyneth on her forehead.

Zoe felt tears prick her eyes for the second time that day as she reached out and felt for Gwyneth’s pulse, but instead simply felt a cold neck. Bile raised up in her throat. She wasn’t supposed to die. Gwyneth  _ shouldn’t  _ have died.

“Thank you, Gwyneth,” Zoe mumbled, tears falling to her cheeks as the Doctor wrapped his arms around her and escorted her out of the house.

Zoe ran blindly through the house and they managed to get out just as it exploded and threw her and the Doctor off their feet.

The Doctor climbed to his feet first and offered Zoe a hand which she swatted away. “She didn’t have to die!” Zoe screamed, shoving at him as tears streamed down her cheeks. “You could’ve just listened to me! You didn’t have to send her to open the rift!” She took a deep breath and glanced down, swiping at her tears furiously even as they continued to fall. “If there had been no other solution I might have understood. If I hadn’t begged you not to do this, I might’ve understood, but there’s no excuse for that. None.”

“What happened?!” Rose exclaimed.

“I’m so sorry,” the Doctor gasped. “She closed the rift.”

“Gwyneth was dead,” Zoe huffed, throwing her hands up in the air. “She had been dead the moment she stepped under that archway and let the Gelth through. Her body was ice cold.”

“But she can't have,” Rose insisted. “She spoke to us. She helped us. She saved us. How could she have done that?”

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Even for you, Doctor,” Charles hummed.

Zoe rolled her eyes. “I’m going back to the Tardis,” she huffed.

* * *

It was an hour later after Zoe had showered and the vortex manipulator still hadn’t taken her away. She came out of her room in a black shirt, jeans, and black trainers. She found the Doctor sitting alone in the console room while Rose had gone off to her room to shower.

Zoe leaned on the wall, knowing full well the Doctor realized she was there and was just hoping for her to say something.

“Help me understand why you did it,” Zoe begged. “I just, I can wrap my brain around wanting to sacrifice one person to save a race that was dying, but after I told you how important it was to me that they didn’t use the corpses I would’ve thought you’d at least try to find another solution.”

“I did,” the Doctor mumbled, so low she couldn’t even hear him.

“What?” Zoe frowned.

“I wasn’t going to let them stay on Earth. I was going to take them to a new planet where they could start up properly,” the Doctor told her, finally turning to face her. “I’d decided at that moment once Gwyneth opened the bridge.”

Zoe sighed and shook her head. “I know you have a soul. I’ve seen it. I know you don’t just pick and choose who you care about and who’s not so lucky. But I can’t understand why you did this,” she insisted, walking towards him. “I don’t want to mention what we both know I’m thinking had to do with this.”

“The Time War?” the Doctor assumed and Zoe nodded. The Doctor sucked in a sharp breath and hung his head. “I don’t enjoy talking about this,” he mumbled.

“This may be just your third trip with me Doctor, but this is my eleventh,” Zoe reminded him. “I’m not demanding you tell me about what happened because to do that would be cruel but I am asking if you can tell me.”

“It was a war,” the Doctor sighed, his body tensing up when he spoke. “My people, Gallifrey, we found in that war and we lost. Everybody lost,” he muttered. “We were fighting against a race called the Daleks for the sake of all creation, but it was destroying us. They tried to throw everything they could at the Daleks but eventually, there was no secret weapon, no defense they could take to try and get the upper hand, but that didn’t stop the Daleks,” he hummed, his voice bitter. “There was a point when all the Daleks were on Gallifrey, every last one. We were still losing massively but they were all there and if they won, they’d not only have the planet they’d have the whole of creation.” Zoe shivered to think what a universe controlled by Daleks might look like. “I ended it the only way I could. I stole a weapon called the Moment. It would destroy the entire planet and, I’d hoped, me with it.” Zoe sucked in a sharp breath and placed her hands over her mouth. The Doctor swallowed sharply. “Except it didn’t,” he murmured. “It destroyed the entire planet, but I was left alive as punishment.”

Zoe reached out, intent on holding him to offer some physical comfort where words could not possibly do justice, but as if on instinct, she shied away.

She took a deep breath and simply moved to his side. “I know you’re a good man,” she murmured. “What you did back there, it hurt, but-.”

“You could still do it, you know,” the Doctor said.

Zoe furrowed her brows. “What?”

“Walk away,” the Doctor shrugged.

Zoe scoffed and held up her vortex manipulator. “That’s likely.”

“No, I mean, you said you wanted to stay inside the Tardis on every trip. You can still do that,” the Doctor assured her.

“Could I?” Zoe raised a brow at him, entirely unconvinced. “I think I finally understand why you were so desperate to save the Gelth at any cost. I don’t like it but I get it.”

The Doctor smiled sadly at her. “You know I still didn’t give you your birthday present.”

“Oh, yeah,” Zoe chortled as the Doctor headed down beneath the console room. “Marvelous birthday, ten out of ten. But is it really my birthday though? Because I wasn’t exactly born in 1869.”

“I think that’s up to you,” the Doctor hummed. “It’s not like you’re aging. You could be nineteen forever.”

“Oh that would get old fast,” Zoe moaned and the Doctor chuckled.

He headed back up the steps with a small box wrapped up for her and Zoe beamed at it.

“I haven’t had a birthday present in ages,” Zoe sighed as he passed the box to her.

“So, you told me,” the Doctor nodded.

Zoe plopped down onto the jumpseat and tore it open, pulling open the lid and feeling her heart stop once she peered at what was inside. 

She pulled out the Polaroid camera with wide eyes and beamed at the Doctor. “Thank you!” She exclaimed.

She knew exactly why he had gotten her this. Her future self likely dropped plenty of not so subtle hints that she would love to get a Polaroid camera when, in actuality, it was so she could pull together her spotter’s guide and tell her past self just what she was up against.

She pulled apart the camera, silently thanking her mother for having a soft spot for Polaroid cameras and showing her how to use it when she was just eleven. She checked for the film before she grinned and took a picture of the Doctor, making him chuckle and shy away.

Zoe watched him as she shook the photo and saw the exact same picture she had seen on the spotter’s guide. She smirked and placed it in her back pocket before eyeing the Doctor once again. 

“You don’t have to be alone, Doctor,” Zoe smiled softly. “Every time I pop in I want to be there for you. You just have to let me.”

The Doctor grinned at her and nodded quickly. “Thank you.” 

“It’s what I’m here for,” Zoe shrugged and as if the vortex manipulator heard her, it started to burn. “Aw, damn it. But not right now I guess.”

The Doctor’s face fell.

Zoe took a deep breath and stood up to pull him into a tight hug. “I’m gonna spend the rest of my time hugging you so you better put that camera into my room for me.”

The Doctor just chuckled and hugged her tighter until her vortex manipulator started flashing and she was tugged out of his grasp.


	19. A Planet Called Midnight

Zoe arrived at one of the most horrific scenes she had been shoved into yet, and that was saying something considering she had fallen straight into a witch trial as they were drowning a woman. A man in a pink collared shirt was dragging the Doctor down the aisle of a bus towards the exit while pandemonium was across the bus.

“Professor, help me!” the man barked at an older man in glasses. 

“I can’t,” the Professor gasped.

“What sort of a man are you?!” the man barked. “Come on!”

“Throw him out!” a redhaired woman hollered.

The Doctor managed to hook his foot into one of the seats but the Professor joined the man and they proceeded to try and drag him out.

“That’s it, cast him out,” a blonde woman with heavy dark eyeshadow hummed.

“That’s it, cast him out,” the Doctor repeated, tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Into the sun,” the blonde woman said.

“Into the sun,” the Doctor repeated.

“I want him out!” the redhaired woman barked.

“And the night,” the blonde woman beamed.

“And the night,” the Doctor repeated.

Finally seeing what’s going on, Zoe marched forward, used her shirt to cover her first before she smashed her fist into one of the glass windows, shattering it completely and silencing the bus.

She grabbed one of the more lengthy shards of glass and turned to glare at everyone. “Do I have your attention?” She smirked. The bus was silent and the men dragging the Doctor out stopped moving. “Good.” She climbed onto one of the bus seats, holding the shard of glass in her fist. “Now, I know you’re probably all wondering how the hell I appeared here and considering throwing me out because based on what I’m seeing something scared you so you decided to kill it. But that’s not going to happen because as long as I’m here none of you are going to put your hands on the Doctor understand me?” She implored with a raised brow.

Rather than say they understood her, they all stood and stared at each other aimlessly. The blonde woman almost seemed to glare at her as though she wanted the Doctor to be tossed out of the bus and Zoe was ruining it.

“She must be with the creature,” the blonde woman said. “She burst in somehow to try and protect her kin.”

“She must be with the creature,” the Doctor repeated, trembling in the arms of the men trying to drag him out. “She burst in somehow to try and protect her kin.”

“Throw them both out!” the redhaired woman screamed at the top of her lungs. “I don’t want them in here, just throw them out!”

“Professor, grab onto that woman,” the pink shirted man barked.

“Molto bene,” the blonde woman laughed as the Professor didn’t hesitate before latching onto her.

“Molto bene,” the Doctor repeated, his voice cracking as he spoke.

“No!” Zoe cried. She kicked the Professor back, holding out her glass shard as a warning to keep him away. “I’m so sorry about this, truly,” she insisted with a nod.

“Allonsy!” the blonde woman cried.

“Allonsy!” the Doctor repeated.

“That’s his voice,” a woman in a hostess uniform gasped. “She’s taken his voice!”

Zoe raced around to the pink shirted man and fought to tear the Doctor out of his grasp. “Give it up!” Zoe shouted. “I really do not want to hurt anybody and I know he doesn’t want to hurt any of you.”

“He’ll kill us all if he stays on board!” the man hollered. “Better to throw him out and save our skins!”

“The starlight awaits,” the blonde woman agreed. 

“The starlight awaits,” the Doctor repeated.

“Just let him go,” Zoe begged, trying to put herself in between the Doctor and the man but the man had his arms wrapped around the Doctor’s shoulders and just tugged the Doctor through her.

“The Midnight sky!” the blonde woman exclaimed.

“The Midnight sky!” the Doctor repeated.

“It’s her,” the hostess breathed. “She’s taken his voice!”

Zoe knelt down and grabbed the Doctor’s ankles, tearing him away from the door as the man tried to drag him towards it.

“This is going to hurt so much, Doctor, I’m sorry!” Zoe screamed as she pulled as hard as she could.

“She’s taken his voice!” the hostess yelled as she grabbed the blonde woman and pressed a big orange button on the wall. The doors opened and the light outside was blinding as she stood in the doorway with the woman. Everyone screamed and cowered away from the light while the hostess stood in the doorway counting. “One, two, three, four, five, six.” Suddenly, they were sucked out into the light and the door sealed shut behind them.

The Doctor collapsed, facefirst onto the ground and Zoe immediately darted to him, grabbing onto him with wide eyes.

“Are you okay?” She murmured.

“It's gone. It's gone. It's gone, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone,” the Doctor muttered shakily.

Zoe pulled him up and he collapsed into her arms, trembling. With wide eyes, Zoe hugged him tightly wondering just what he’d been through before she arrived and did everything she could to protect him.

The redhaired woman leaned over the seats, peering down at them. “I said it was her,” she mumbled.

Zoe glared at her. “If I remember correctly you were the one screaming throw him out loudest of all so sit back and shut up,” she snapped.

The woman winced but did as she said.

“Come on, Doctor,” Zoe whispered softly. “Can you stand?”

The Doctor sucked in a shaky breath and murmured, “with help.”

Zoe nodded and helped him to his feet. He shook and nearly collapsed but she caught him and moved him towards one of the seats so he could sit down properly rather than lying on the ground.

Zoe brushed some of the hair out of his face and gazed over him worriedly. She couldn’t imagine how long he’d been enduring all of that before she arrived for him. Though in the end, she wasn’t the one who saved his life. Sure, she might have stopped them from throwing him out immediately but in the end, that hostess was the one who freed him.

Still, it made her sick to her stomach to think about what they might have done to him if she hadn’t arrived.

“How did you get here?” a cute goth man that looked to be around her own age asked, peering over the seats. “I mean, how did you appear?”

“What’s your name?” Zoe asked.

“Jethro.”

“Jethro, did you try to throw the Doctor out of this bus before I arrived?” She asked calmly.

“I may have thought the creature was in him and I-.”  
“Stop talking to me, right now,” Zoe instructed. “If anybody on this bus who didn’t try to murder the Doctor wants to speak to me they’re free to do so,” she said turning to the people on the bus.

Only one girl stood up, an adorable woman with her hair in two buns and glasses on her face. She sat beside Zoe and took a deep breath. 

“I didn’t stop them, but I tried,” she murmured to Zoe.

“What’s your name?” Zoe smiled.

“Dee Dee.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Zoe hummed. “Can you tell me what happened here?”

Dee Dee sighed softly. “The bus was supposed to take us on a tour of Midnight. The land out there is deadly so we have to stay here but it’s still a lovely little trip. That was until the bus broke down. They called for help but that thing, whatever it was, got inside and killed the drivers. It seemed to possess Sky and made her repeat whatever we said. The Doctor said there were likely three stages. She repeated after us, then she talked in unison with us, then we were repeating her. Except when it got to repeating after her, only the Doctor was repeating after her. Like she’d chosen him or something.”

“Yeah” Zoe muttered, looking to the Doctor now gripping onto her as tight as he could likely manage. “He has a way of attracting trouble like that.”

“Except nobody else thought it was that. They thought the creature transferred to him somehow and it was planting thoughts in their head, making them angry. They were scared and wanted him out.”

“Fear shouldn’t equal murder,” Zoe murmured. “If that hostess hadn’t sacrificed herself to kill the creature I’d still be fighting people to keep the Doctor alive. If I hadn’t arrived they would have tossed him out a lot faster, and then where would you be?” She wondered. Zoe glanced up at the rest of the passengers. “I’m so sorry it had to resort to violence and maybe one of you might have come to your senses and saved the Doctor, but I can’t look at the fear he was expressing and the way so many of you were so angry and act like that’s alright.”

“How did you arrive?” Dee Dee wondered. “Because you can’t have walked in.”

Zoe tapped her wrist. “I have no idea if this is a problem word but vortex manipulator,” she said. “Popped me right in here luckily instead of outside.”

Dee Dee sighed softly and nodded. She got up out of the seat beside Zoe and moved to sit beside the Professor once again.

Meanwhile, Zoe turned to the Doctor, who was still keeping an iron grip on her. Zoe placed her hand over his and found his jaw clenched as he leaned his head against the bus.

“You’re alright,” Zoe mumbled.

The Doctor dropped his head to her shoulder and placed both hands around just one of her hand, kissing it fiercely.

“I suppose we’re just waiting for a rescue vehicle now?” Zoe assumed with a raised brow.

The Doctor silently nodded.

“You can talk to me, you know,” Zoe murmured. “It’s gone. I promise you, it’s gone.”

The Doctor sighed deeply and nodded once again. “I-I haven’t seen you much,” he said. “Since-,” he cut himself off with a sharp swallow and a shake of his head.

“Since, what?” Zoe frowned.

“Never mind,” the Doctor mumbled. 

Though that scared Zoe more than he could know, she decided to remain silent. He had been through enough scary things being rendered absolutely powerless where his own voice had been taken from him. He should talk about what he wants.

“Are we with anybody?” Zoe whispered in his ear. “Or are you here alone?”

The Doctor swallowed. “Donna’s gonna be there when we get back. She wanted to stay behind to get a tan.”

“Hell of a time to choose to stay behind,” Zoe chortled, but her smile fell when she saw the Doctor looking at her sadly. “Wrong time,” she shook her head.

“They’re good people, you know,” the Doctor mumbled, nodding towards the passengers. “I saw it. Before whatever that was came onboard.”

“My mum always said when the going gets rough that’s when you see what people are really like,” Zoe hummed. “Now, I’m not saying they’re unforgivable or anything, it’s your job to forgive them, not mine. I am saying what they did was cruel. It’s up to them to figure out how to recompense.”

The Doctor shrugged and nodded. “You make a good point,” he said. And that was it.

So they waited together, mostly in silence, occasionally speaking out for the Doctor to tell her little tidbits about the planet that bus sat upon or Zoe to tell the Doctor where she had come from and, when that made him anxious, assure that he was always and completely forgiven, because how could she do anything else? There were a few minutes where she just watched him and couldn’t help but feel so relentlessly sad. Now that she knew what he’d done and been through she felt there was another layer to the lonely “god” that Margaret had proclaimed him. She cared so deeply for him and now, knowing what he did, she wanted nothing more than to be there for him.

She didn’t know if they’d ever stop in Cardiff again where she would be able to see her father but she didn’t know if she wanted to. She had found something better traveling with the Doctor and she didn’t want to let go of it.

As time ticked onward eventually, a voice called out over the intercom. “Crusader Fifty rescue vehicle coming alongside in three minutes. Repeat. Crusader Fifty rescue vehicle coming alongside in three minutes. Door seals set to automatic. Prepare for boarding. Repeat. Prepare for boarding.”

The Doctor cleared his throat to speak to the rest of the passengers on the bus. “The hostess. What was her name?”

Zoe’s heart sunk at the question and the silence of everyone around them. It was an important question. A necessary question. The hostess had saved them all and yet, they couldn’t even remember her by her name. It felt disgusting.

“I don’t know” the Professor gasped, and it seemed to dawn on the bus the very realization Zoe was having. That woman had saved their lives and they could only remember her by her profession.

It wasn’t long before the rescue vehicle arrived and they all got on board. The rescue team started to ask what happened and rather than ask the Doctor to explain it all or try to explain it herself when she hadn’t been there for most of the trip, Zoe directed them towards Dee Dee who had explained events fairly well to her and who she had no doubt could explain it all perfectly to the crew.

On the way back, Jethro apologized to the Doctor telling the Doctor and Zoe he was, “a big scared idiot who should’ve known better.” After making Zoe laugh, he sat with them for the rest of the trip back.

When they reached the resort, the Doctor guided Zoe to the spa he said Donna had been staying at. They headed inside and the second they got there, Donna marched over to the Doctor and pulled him into a hug. Her eyes widened when the Doctor tightened the hug and she raised a brow at Zoe.

“It was bad,” Zoe sighed. “Very bad.”

Donna’s face contorted strangely and she held the Doctor as fiercely as she could.

Eventually, the Doctor was the one to pull away and they headed to one of the tables in the spa to tell Donna just what happened for she told them all she had heard was their bus was attacked and they had to be picked up by a rescue vehicle.

Zoe didn’t say a word as the Doctor explained it all, listening intently for any details she might have missed out on when Dee Dee told the story. Donna was the first to notice what the Doctor had never said. He never called the creature by any name or title, it was always just ‘the creature’.

“What do you think it was?” Donna asked with furrowed brows and Zoe raised a brow at the Doctor. He usually always had theories on this sort of thing.

“No idea,” the Doctor mumbled, shrugging aimlessly.

“Do you think it’s still out there?” Donna wondered. The Doctor didn’t say anything but he looked to Zoe and then Donna with wide eyes and both of the women knew exactly what that meant. “You better tell them,” Donna sighed. “This lot,” she said, nodding towards the resort.

“Otherwise they’ll think the hostess killed the only one of them,” Zoe nodded in agreement. “They need to know it can attack any of their buses here.”

“Yeah,” the Doctor hummed, running his fingers through his hair like he did when he was anxious or lost in thought. “They can build a Leisure Palace somewhere else. Let this planet keep on turning around an Xtonic star, in silence.”

Donne nodded silently and narrowed her eyes at the Doctor. “I can’t imagine you without a voice,” she murmured.

“It was weird,” Zoe breathed. “It was really weird.

The Doctor smiled softly at them. “Molto bene.”

“Molto bene,” Donna tried to repeat with a grin.

Zoe turned to her with wide eyes and the Doctor’s face fell. “No, don’t do that,” he requested and Donna’s smile slipped away. “Don’t. Don’t.”

“Don’t repeat, love,” Zoe instructed, placing a gentle hand over Donna’s as if to reassure her that it wasn’t her fault. It was just a traumatic thing the Doctor had faced.

Donna took a slow breath and nodded in understanding.

* * *

After the Doctor had spent a few hours with the officials on Midnight to explain the very present threat still on this planet, he returned to the Tardis with Zoe and Donna.

The second Zoe got onto the Tardis, she made a beeline for her room where she found the Polaroid camera waiting patiently for her, but her eyes widened when she turned to the spotter’s guide on the wall and found it empty. The spotter’s guide hadn’t been done yet. Based on what she remembered, it must have been finished right around the time the eleventh Doctor got his Tardis.

With a soft smile, Zoe reached into her back pocket and put the ninth Doctor’s picture up onto her wall before writing: _'ninth face, just after the war. This face explains what the war was. In search of healing. Short run 2007-2008.'_ She could feel herself making her way to that future girl who was so brave and so well informed about absolutely everything the Doctor did and it both excited her and scared her half to death.

Zoe headed out with the Polaroid towards the kitchen where she found Donna sipping from a mug of tea.

“Ah, I was wondering where you’d run off to when we got into the Tardis,” Donna hummed.

“Look what the Doctor got me,” Zoe grinned, holding up the Polaroid camera and Donna laughed softly.

“Let me see,” Donna requested and Zoe passed the camera to her. “Oh, it’s marvelous!” She exclaimed before passing it back to Zoe.

“Yeah, the Doctor told me it was my birthday when we stopped in 1869 and gave me this,” she smiled. “He also said I sort of have the privilege of choosing whether or not it’s my birthday seeing as I technically haven’t reached my birthday in the amount of time I’ve been traveling with the Doctor, nor was I born in 1869.”

“This time-traveling stuff can be quite the trick to wrap your head around when it comes to working out important dates like your birthday,” Donna chuckled. 

“You’re telling me,” Zoe snorted. “Anyway, smile!” She exclaimed.

Donna shot a large grin at the camera and there was a bright flash before the picture slid out and Zoe began waving it while she furrowed her brows at the kitchen.

“I’m an idiot, did you make tea?” She giggled.

“Yeah,” Donna smiled. “Would you like some?”

“Sure,” Zoe shrugged. “I’m gonna take a picture of the Doctor but I will be right back,” she assured Donna. “Thank you.”

“Not a problem, the Doctor makes rubbish tea,” Donna huffed and Zoe snickered as she headed out of the kitchen.

As Zoe walked down the corridor towards the console room where she knew the Doctor was bound to be, she shoved Donna’s picture into the back of her jeans so she could post it up in her room.

The Doctor was flicking switches on the Tardis and had taken off his brown coat, tossing it over the jumpsuit while he flew the Tardis.

Zoe darted out in front of him. “Doctor!” Zoe exclaimed.

The Doctor looked up to grin at her and Zoe took the picture. She pulled out the picture and began waving it as she ran out of the console room and he laughed.

“What was that?!” the Doctor exclaimed.

“Thank you!” Zoe hollered and promptly disappeared from sight.

Zoe grinned as she ran back to her room and pulled out the pictures so she could leave her notes under them. Under the tenth Doctor, she wrote:  _ 'tenth face. Much happier after healing done by ninth face. Sometimes wearing a long brown coat over the blue suit. Lengthier run, 2005-2009.' _ She posted Donna’s picture up with enough room for the Doctor’s other companions but realized she didn’t know enough about Donna to be able to write anything substantial beneath her picture so she simply wrote:  _ Donna Noble _ , and hoped her future self could fill in the blank.

She sighed softly and stepped back as she looked at the spotter’s guide. It only had three pictures but it was a start and a good one at that. And besides, unless she ended up with the Doctor and Donna on her next trip she would make sure she kept the Polaroid camera in her hands for her next trip.

She snorted at the thought. She wondered how the time vortex might affect the Polaroid camera. 

Before she headed out to get tea with Donna, she grabbed a leather jacket from her room and pulled it on. She had gotten lucky with where she landed on this trip, not falling into the past and flashing her vortex manipulator to a bunch of horrified people labeling her a witch… again. She couldn’t take the risk again.

However, as she pulled on her jacket, her arm began to burn and she groaned. It had been a while since the vortex manipulator truly hurt her but it wasn’t always a pleasant feeling. Immediately, she bolted out of her room and towards the kitchen so she could catch Donna so the girl wouldn’t think she bailed on her without a care.

“Donna!” Zoe exclaimed.

“There you are,” Donna smiled, holding out a mug for her “I made a fresh mug just for you.”

“Thank you,” Zoe sighed, accepting the mug and drinking it quickly. “I can’t stay much longer,” she winced, pulling down her sleeve to show her the vortex manipulator. “But thank you so much.”

“Of course,” Donna shrugged, taking the mug from her once she finished. “I hope you end up somewhere nice.”

Zoe groaned. “Me too,” she huffed as the vortex manipulator began beeping out of control, and once again she was torn away to another time.

* * *

Zoe landed on her feet with a bit of a tumble but she placed her arms out to try and steady herself and for a moment, it seemed to work before she stumbled face-first into the Tardis console.

“Smooth,” Ryan remarked.

“Oh, like you could do any better falling through the time vortex,” Zoe scoffed. She placed down the Polaroid camera on the jumpseat and beamed at the group. “Am I finally at the start of a trip again?”

“Yep,” the Doctor beamed at her. “I was just about to put Yaz’s watch into the Tardis telepathic circuits,” she said, showing the watch to Zoe.

Zoe smiled softly at it. The face of the watch was broken but it looked old and Zoe would be lying if she acted like she didn’t like old things. They made her sad, but not a bad sort of sad, rather a nostalgic sort of sad. “That’s beautiful,” she murmured and Yasmin grinned at her.

“It’s my gran’s,” Yasmin said.

“Never get that repaired,” Zoe instructed. “It’s perfect the way it is and it just looks like it has some story behind it.”

“Hang on, this thing’s telepathic too?” Graham frowned, gesturing to the Tardis.

“Don’t call her a thing!” Zoe and the Doctor exclaimed in unison before looking to each other and laughing.

“And yes, she does have telepathic navigation, sort of,” the Doctor shrugged. “Shorthand for a very complicated process which is way beyond your understanding.”

“Ta very much. I only hang around here to be insulted,” Graham hummed and Zoe snorted.

“Any object amasses all sorts of fragmentary spatio-temporal particles through its life. The Tardis can read it, like date-stamps. What do you three reckon?” the Doctor asked, raising her brows as she looked to Zoe, Ryan, and Graham.

“Oh, yeah, love it. Pakistan,” Graham nodded. “Never been there before. Another one off the bucket list. As long as there are no killer turtles.”

“Killer turtles?” Zoe frowned and the Doctor winced.

“I’m up for Pakistan,” Ryan agreed with a shrug.

“I’ll explain the killer turtles later,” the Doctor assured her. “Are you in?”

“Of course,” Zoe scoffed.

“Okay,” the Doctor sighed, turning back to the console. “One hour in Pakistan and no-.”

“Interfering,” they all said aloud.

The Doctor grinned at them and turned back to the console to place the watch in the telepathic circuits. “Go on,” she murmured. “I know you can do it.”

It took a minute before the Tardis began to dematerialize, taking them away to Pakistan.


End file.
